Near the ruins of the century-old church is the St. Agustine Academy, a structure that served as a Spanish convent during the Spanish Sovereignty in Antique. The milling site of muscovado, a moist brown natural sugar derived from sugarcane through chemical-free extraction process, is found in Patnongon.
Year founded : 1761 Land Area : 16,347.4096 Hectares Classification : 4th Class Municipality No. of Barangays : 36 Barangays Zip Code : 5702
The name of the town, “Patnongon” came to be from a story involving a Spanish priest in Bugasong. The priest came to the unknown place and reached the river (now the Patnongon River). While on his journey, he happened to step on a thorn, which caused him great pains. His attendant, upon picking the thorn loose, uttered “ongon”.
The priest then asked the assistant the name of the river, where he unluckily stepped on a thorn. He was informed that the name of the river is “Catmon” because at its source is a big tree bearing that name. It also applied to the place through which this river passes by in its course to empty into the sea.
Because of some difficulties in pronouncing native words and phrases, the Spaniards pronounced it as “Patnongon”. And thus, became the name of the place/town, “Patnongon”.
