[2] It is a suburban community located approximately 25 miles (40 km) northwest of Pittsburgh.

Prior to colonial explorers, native Indians traveled the "Glade Path", an important trail crossing the future township from north to south.

One family of settlers in Beaver Valley, the Bakers, made their home in 1774 in the hills above Raccoon Creek near what is now Pleasant Drive in Center Township.

At that time, all lands south of the Ohio had been claimed by Virginia, with the seat of government at Pittsburgh.

During the course of the Revolutionary War, Fort McIntosh was constructed at Beaver to aid settlers in defense against the Indians and the British at Detroit.

On November 24, 1914, after an election, the court decreed that the larger southern section be known as Center Township.

In early November 2003, the largest hepatitis A outbreak in American history occurred due to contaminated green onions at the defunct Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant in the Beaver Valley Mall in Center Township.

Children in Center are served by the public Central Valley School District.

The township is bisected by one major highway, Interstate 376 (known locally as the Beaver Valley Expressway), which connects the Southern Beltway in the vicinity of Pittsburgh International Airport to the Pennsylvania Turnpike in the northern part of Beaver County.

The newly constructed Beaver County Transit Authority Terminal is located in the township just off one of these interchanges.

In November 2022, an off-duty officer was accused of killing a Good Samaritan by shoving him to the ground at the scene of a shooting.