[3] The borough is a suburb of Harrisburg and is one of the earliest colonial settlements in South Central Pennsylvania.

The Lenape called the village Peshtank meaning "where the waters stand" which in English became Paxtang or Paxton.

[4] In 1700, William Penn, founder of the Pennsylvania Colony, obtained from the Susquehannock a deed for their lands in the Susquehanna Valley.

"[6][7] Paxtang is the site where Presbyterian Scotch-Irish frontiersmen organized the Paxton Boys, a vigilante group that murdered twenty Susquehannock in the Conestoga Massacre.

On December 14, 1763, more than 50 Paxton Boys rode to the settlement near Millersville, Pennsylvania, murdered six, and burned their cabins.

[8] A month earlier, 140 Moravian Lenape and Mohican living peacefully in eastern Pennsylvania had been moved to Philadelphia for their protection.

The Paxton Boys marched on Philadelphia in February 1764 with a few hundred followers, however, dispersed after meeting with a delegation headed by Benjamin Franklin.

[9] The present stone sanctuary was erected in 1740, replacing a log meeting house which had previously served as the place of worship.

People who molded the early religious and political character of America are buried here, including John Harris Jr., William Maclay (the first United States senator from Pennsylvania), and four of the six commissioners who planned the town of Harrisburg with him in 1785.

Ministers, legislators, farmers, teachers, men of affairs, and enslaved African Americans are buried here.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the borough has a total area of 0.41 square miles (1.05 km2), all land.

[12] Paxtang Park is located along the city boundary with Harrisburg and is a trailhead for the Capital Area Greenbelt.