Abel Patchen, came to Nankin Township from Yales, New York at the age of 29, iwth his wife, Cornelia, and their three children; Emily, Harriet, and Jarid. He purchased land on the northeast portion of Section 7 on September 10, 1829. (this today would include the intersection of Warren Avenue and Newburgh Road)
Patchen was not fully educated, and valued the importance of an education and he set aside land for the construction of a school at the southeast corner of Warren Avenue and Newburgh Road. In 1834, the first school house, built of wood planks was constructed on Patchen's land, and was called Patchin School. The grades covered here were 1st through 8th and student ages ranged from 6 years old to 19 years old. All three of the Patchen children attended this school, along with another well-known area family, named Chubb.

There has always been a discripancy in the exact spelling of the Patchin name. Land records found of Nankin Township of 1876, list the name, Patchen. School records that are now in the Wayne Historical Museum, list the names of both, Abel and his son, Jarid, spelled Patchen, however, the school name is spelled as Patchin.

Abel Patchen died May 26, 1877. He is buried at the Newburgh Cemetery on Ann Arbor Trail, east of Newburgh Road, along with his wife, and a daughter.

In the year 1859, the teacher was paid once a month a salary of $20. By 1874, the pay was still once a month and was raised to only $40.
Slates were used in the primary grades as a means for student to practice writing and arithmetic. A one room, frame structure was built by Parshall in 1840, to replace the original school first built out of planks. Another was not raised until 1915, which replaced the wooden frame house, with blocks, and new windows. In 1921, a red brick building was erected, including a basement. In a homecoming address written in 1907 by a former student, Ella Warner, she remarked that in 1861, there were three trees set in a fow a few feet west of the school house, each named for a teach of the school: Mr. Loomis, Ismuel Blont, and Thomas Ballow. Later there were other trees set by teachers, some lived, but many of them did not.

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