The name of Sainte-Apolline-de-Patton refers to the heroic virtues of a young martyred in Alexandria in the year 249, during the reign of Emperor Dece. She refused to deny her faith, her tormentors broke her teeth and she deliberately threw herself into the flames of the burning pyre for her purpose. Sainte-Apolline is also the patron of dentists.

The denomination «PattonThe name of the township proclaimed in 1871, where the municipality is located, is opened in memory of a wood merchant and the last seigneur of the seigneury of the South River, “Sir William Randall Patton”.

It was in 1877 that the first settlers began to climb the route of Anse-à-Gilles (Route of Hope) to settle on the lands of the cantons of Bourdages and Patton. The first arrivals were Joseph Bernier (Firmin), his brother Théophile Bernier and William Guimond. The settlers were served as a mission by the curé of Cap-Saint-Ignace in the early years, then by the parish priest of Saint – Cyrille, and from 1889 to 1894, by the priest of Notre-Dame-du-Rosary. The first chapel was erected in 1894. It was destroyed by bad weather shortly after its erection and rebuilt in 1896. This chapel is now the sacristy. The year 1902 marks several important events. The parish welcomes Abbé Armand Verreault, his first resident priest, and opens his registers while the parishioners build the presbytery.