Pates is a community in Robeson County, North Carolina, United States.
Pates is located in western Robeson County. According to historian William McKee Evans, it was preceded by a village known as Eureka.[1] The community of Pates was established around 1880 by Russell W. Livermore, who settled on the land of a dead friend. It was named for a railway worker, Ed Pates. The community was incorporated in 1883, though in time its municipal government became inactive.[2] By 1884 the town hosted a railway station and approximately 100 inhabitants.[3] In 1887 the Croatan Normal School was founded, and its first buildings were established in Pates. The institution later moved to Pembroke.[4]