The Patterson Ranch Company was a livestock, dairy, and agricultural farm originally located on the Oxnard plains, near Wooley and Patterson Roads. Peter Hartveld, an immigrant from Holland, was the ranch foreman and responsible for much of the day-to-day running of the ranch. The 5,000-acre ranch was named for New York farmer John D. Patterson who arrived in California in 1854, and in 1866 he purchased land from Rancho El Rio de Santa Clara, or La Colonia. Patterson never lived on the ranch, but hired managers to run the farm.

Horses and cattle were raised on the property, but much of the acreage was devoted to grains. Following Patterson’s death circa 1902, his heirs sold their interests to the Patterson Ranch Company, the president of which was Robert Oxnard. Functioning basically as a subsidiary of the American Beet Sugar Company, which was owned and operated by the Oxnard family, the new manager installed a drainage system to improve the arability of the soil so it was suitable for growing sugar beets and a variety of other crops, including lima beans, pumpkins, potatoes and citrus. In 1913, 1800 acres of the northern portion were sold in 40-acre tracts to local citizens.

The main ranch house was built around 1905 for John Roupe, the manager of the company at the time. Peter Hartveld moved to Oxnard in 1904 and was ranch foreman until 1914. He was born on October 6, 1883 in Nieuwe-Tonge, Holland. He moved his wife, Anna, and family to Oxnard around 1910. The Hartvelds settled on the Patterson Ranch and within a few years Mr. Harveld became the ranch manager, a position he held for many years. After the ranch was subdivided, Hartveld bought the ranch house and 153 acres surrounding it. He and his family lived in the house until 1987.