Independence Township occupies much of the Raccoon Creek Valley in southern Beaver County. Independence village, the site of "Seventy-Six" Post Office, was Hopewell Township's first polling place and chief village until that township was divided to form Independence Township in 1848. Forner's Mill, located here, was powered by water from a unique underground mill race. The blacksmith shop nearby was a Masonic Lodge for many years. The last covered bridge in Beaver County was also here until it collapsed in 1948.
George McElhaney, an Indian scout during the Revolutionary War, settled along Raccoon Creek south of Independence village shortly after the war. Nearby, the township's other village of note developed as Bock's Mill (later Bocktown). The post office here was called Duluth. Backbone School, one of the county's more interesting place names, was named for a high, narrow ridge in a loop of Raccoon Creek in the southwest corner of the township. New Bethlehem United Presbyterian Church, founded in 1865, is the township's oldest.
Industry in the township has been wholly related to agriculture, except for some petroleum wells in the southwest corner. The township changed little in the first part of the twentieth century, but evidence of the new growth has become visible in more recent years. A massive dam, forming a huge reservoir, was built on Service Creek in 1955 to provide water for the Ambridge Municipal Water Authority. New home construction is proceeding along Route 151 near the Independence Elementary School, and westward.
The out-of-county headwaters of Raccoon Creek are being cleaned up, greatly reducing the sulfurous mine drainage pollution in that stream, and the valley is now beginning to be considered for its recreational potential. In the 1960's, the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy developed an area along Raccoon Creek as a wildflower preserve. Trails were laid throughout the preserve to allow visitors to see a variety of flowers and trees in their natural habitat, and a rustic cabin was constructed to serve as an information center. The preserve is presently being integrated with Raccoon Creek State Park.