Ed Patterson built the E. G. Patterson Building in 1905. It was designed by the Fargo architect Milton Earl Beebe, at an early point in his career. In the first few years the building held a meat market on the lower west half of the ground floor, and the drugstore of B. E. Jones on the east side. Above these stores Patterson rented the front rooms of the large upper story to the Commercial Club of Bismarck—a sort of Chamber of Commerce group. The rest of the expansive upper level was designed as a meeting space for large gatherings and a ballroom for private functions and public dances. For decades Patterson’s Hall hosted fancy balls, dances of all sorts, political party gatherings, boxing matches, and a range of other entertainments. In the prairie towns like Bismarck and Mandan, people hungered for social activities, seeking out musical events and other excuses to come together and meet new people and old friends. Hundreds of couples attended masquerade balls, and other such special events in Patterson’s Hall. In these remote towns on the prairies, music was very important, it bridged cultural differences, and brought a cheap and relatively portable source of entertainment into their everyday lives. Many young area couples met and conducted courtships at the “Silver” Ballroom of the Hall. In 1922, Phyllis “Honey” Yochim, a Bismarck girl working at the Webb Brothers Department Store met an industrious young man from Mandan, John A. Sakariassen at a Patterson’s Hall dance. They dated, likely adding variety to their social life by watching moving pictures featuring Tom Mix, Lillian Gish in “Way Down East”, and Rin Tin-Tin, shown in the Capitol Theater which by then occupied the converted street-level portions of the Patterson Building. They married in 1929, honeymooning in Cuba as the United States stock market crashed that same month.

The population of Bismarck at the time Ed Patterson’s building went up was just under 5,000 people. Mandan, across the Missouri River, just a ferry or train ride west, had a population of 2734. Patterson understood the desire of people to gather together and supplied many opportunities to afford them chances to mingle and become exposed to music and culture, discuss state and local politics, and gather as members of assorted organizations. Around 1910, the meat market and drugstore on the street level on Main Avenue were replaced by the Orpheum Theater, which showed moving pictures. This new source of entertainment was wildly successful, and in 1920 the show house was remodeled and renamed “The Capitol Theater. Much needed seating was added to the capacity of the theater.
Patterson’s Hall continued to be the site of important political gatherings and social events for decades, eventually connecting via a second story landing to the McKenzie Hotel, also built by Ed Patterson. Many events held in Patterson’s Hall were progressive parties where a show would be watched in the theater, followed by dancing in the Hall, and late-night refreshments, first the Northwest Hotel across the street, and after that burned, in the McKenzie Hotel dining room.

According to the National Register of Historic Places nomination form, the E. G. Patterson Building’s exterior has changed little over the century, and this record maintains that: “Although the E.G. Patterson Building is one of several existing turn-of-the-century two-story brick commercial buildings in the city center, its design remains distinctive for the striking combination of classical detail, white enameled finish and tall copper bay windows. The second-floor ballroom is unequalled in the area, and perhaps the State, for its expansive pressed metal ceiling. Milton Earl Beebe (1822-1940), who designed the building for Patterson in 1905, was one of the State's earliest and most prominent architects.”