The Township was named after James Patterson an early settler.
The first piece of land removed from the township was what was known as the Borough of Beaver Falls on November 9, 1868.
The second land removed from township was the farming land of George M. McHattie and Jesse Williams to the territory of the Borough of Fallston. This land would be the land south of Country Club Estates and the Old Patterson Township Airport to the bottom of what is now Fallston Hill and from the Beaver River west to the Brady’s Run and north to the present township line. After these divisions, the 1870 census of Patterson Township shows 74 residents. This left the township to be mostly a rural farming area with a number of truck farms.
The third and final property removed from the Township of Patterson was Patterson Heights. The village was incorporated into a borough on June 19, 1899. At this time this section of the township was the most populated (1900 census – 272) and the residents felt it unwise to distribute their tax dollars over the entire township as the “heights” area had the higher real estate values and the rest of the township mostly farm land. In 1921 the township became a First-Class Township in order to prevent any other annexation without a vote of all of the residents. During this time at least one president of the United States visited Patterson Township. On March 8, 1918, William H. Taft attended a dinner at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Fred N. Beegle, at the Beegle estate, Heath Manor, which is now part of the Franciscan Manor assisted living facility.
From then until now much has changed in the township with the addition of a Volunteer Fire Department, a full time Road Department, a full time Police Department and a full time office staff.
As the sign entering Patterson Township says, we are “A Safe Family Community.” We truly are. Many of the residents have lived here all of their lives and have found it to be a wonderful place to live and raise a family. Some of the present Township Commissioners were born and raised here, went to school here and still live here after many years. In the most recent census the Township had over 3,000 residents with about 1,500 households. The Township just celebrated 175 years as a very successful community.