At the beginning of the First World War, Patterson was still a quiet country town with three-way intersections and triangular islands suited more to horse-drawn wagons than automobiles, electric power in town, and telephones for some residents, yet in many ways it remained an isolated American small town, distant from the passions and politics of Europe. The war profoundly affected the men from Patterson who left home, many for the first time, to fight in the largest conflict the world had yet seen, and three did not return. A monument was erected to all who served, and it has continued to be the focus of parades and Memorial Day ceremonies. The American Legion, formed in Paris in 1919 after the war and organized under a constitution adopted at its convention in St. Louis that same year, emphasized comradeship and mutual helpfulness, and volunteer efforts by members of the Patterson Post have largely maintained the monument and its grounds. A bronze tablet bearing the names of townspeople who fought in the Second World War was later relocated from the former Legion Hall to the north face of the monument.