The area now comprising the Borough of Midland was part of South Beaver Township at county formation in 1800. In 1805, it passed into the new Ohio Township. As early as 1792, patents for tracts of land bearing such colorful names as "The Ohio Adonis," "Appollo's Retreat," "Happy Retreat," and "Bachelor's Delight" had been taken out. After the county was established and settlement increased, these were divided and sold. By 1815, one John Hoge had acquired over 991 acres which included all of present-day Midland. In 1856, part of this area came within the boundaries of Industry Township, formed from portions of Ohio and Brighton.
The real development of the area began with the purchase of 194 acres of this farmland by J. A. Neel, a coal operator and riverman from McKeesport. By 1866, Neel owned 316 acres in what is now the western area of Midland. Building himself a fine house, (which Crucible Steel later used as an office building) he farmed, grew apples and musk melons, and operated a steam-powered cider press. He donated a piece of ground along the Ohio Township-Industry boundary in 1865 for the establishment of a school. The school district consequently became known as "Neel's School District." Others, including Daniel Kaine, a lawyer in search of a summer home, established large farms nearby.
Thus the situation remained until the expansion of "big industry" at the turn of the century. In 1905, T. K. Miller, a representative of Pittsburgh industrialists, came to Beaver County in search of industrial properties close to the Ohio River. Miller bought the Neel, Kaine, Brucker and McCoy farms, and the same year Midland Steel Company began building its plant on the land he had purchased.
The following year, 1906, the Borough of Midland itself was established. The First National Bank and the Midland Hotel were built that year, along with a number of homes for the mill workers, many of which were built and owned by Midland Steel. The workers themselves were a new breed, representing the wave of immigrants to the United States from Eastern Europe and Italy.
Midland's residential districts expanded to the north, east and west. Besides Midland Steel, the new Borough boasted a foundry built in 1906 by S. Jarvis-Adams Company. (Later this foundry became part of the Mackintosh- Hemphill Company works). A public school had been built in 1906 to accommodate the children of the industrial workers.
In 1911, Crucible Steel Company, a Pittsburgh firm, purchased the Midland Steel Company plant. During the next few years, Crucible greatly enlarged the operation. As the industry grew, so did the town develop. By 1935, a history of the borough reported that streets of the residential areas have "practically all been paved." Many blacks joined the immigrant workers as employees of the mills.
Midland remained one of the most heavily industrialized Beaver County municipalities until the 1980's when the steel industry downsized and many mills closed.