The Municipality takes its name from the Pitt River and Pitt Lake, which were possibly named after former British Prime Minister William Pitt.
The first inhabitants of Pitt Meadows were the Katzie First Nation, whose history in this area go back 12,000 years. James McMillan explored the area in 1874, and Europeans followed by starting a settlement in the area in the 1870's. This settlement was originally known as Bonson's Landing.
The municipality of Maple Ridge was first incorporated in 1874 and included Pitt Meadows to the west. However, residents of the Pitt Meadows area petitioned for their removal from the District of Maple Ridge in 1892. Pitt Meadows reverted to unorganized territory for a period and was separately incorporated in 1914.
Early settlers were mostly Anglo-Saxon until after 1910 when many French Canadians and Japanese arrived. A large group of Dutch farmers reclaimed much of the low-lying land in Pitt Meadows after World War II.