Our History
Over two hundred years ago, John White came to this country with considerable wealth and is credited with being the first settler in the area. He came from Ireland in 1791, and worked as a contractor on the turnpike connecting Philadelphia and Baltimore. Between 1792 and 1793 he traveled to this area by covered wagon and as there were no roads here, he had to continue on horseback to Patterson Heights where he temporarily settled. In 1794 he purchased land North of Beaver Falls extending to Morado and Wallace Run on the North, to the town of Oakville on the West, and East to the Beaver River. On this land White built a log cabin on the site of the old West Mayfield Dairy making this his homestead, where he and his wife raised ten children, of which there are many descendants living in the tristate area today. The names of John White’s children are as follows: Thomas, John, David, James, Robert, Hugh, Sallie, Elizabeth, Anne and Mary.
Eventually, this land became divided by the Penn Central Railroad and White gave his son, Thomas, 82 acres of land on the East side of the railroad. Thomas built a stone house, still in existence today, located at 3925 Forth Avenue, the main avenue on College Hill. White then gave a tract of land, located on Oakville Road, for a log schoolhouse to be built in 1936, at which his son, John Jr., was a teacher before becoming a physician. Later in 1854 he conveyed to Robert Chapman, three quarters of an acre of land in Morado where a Methodist Episcopal Church was built near his son Robert’s home.
Sixty-two years later in 1856, Big Beaver bordered White’s land on the North, on the West by part of Chippewa (which originally in 1816 was known as Adams Township), South by Beaver Falls, and East by Beaver Falls and the Beaver River. This included College Hill, Mount Washington, West Mayfield and part of Chippewa.
On December 8, 1887, White Township incorporated soon after 91 residents of the Chippewa area, at the June term of court presented a petition specifying the area at the East line be named White Township, after John White.
Due to rapid growth, five years later the Borough of College Hill petitioned the courts to separate White Township and it was incorporated on May 2, 1892. Finally, thirty-one years later West Mayfield followed, taking a large portion of land, and became incorporated on August 29, 1923, making White Township the smallest township in Beaver County.