Patricia Eldredge was born on July 21, 1934 in Hudson, Ohio. Eldredge received her BA at Mills College in Oakland, CA and studied in Columbia University's School of Architecture in the Graduate Program for Restoration and Preservation.

Eldredge was a founding member of the Hudson Historical Association (or HHA) and the Architectural Board, both also created in 1975. The HHA was created in order to document the historical buildings and locations that were disappearing due to retail and commercial development in the 1970s. The HHA contacted Henry and Loraine Chambers (leading historical architects of the time) in order to identify and catalog the architectural and historical elements of what would become known as the Hudson Historical District. As a result of this study, in 1977, the HHA adopted a set of characters and values, called the Architecture Criteria Study that defined what "historic Hudson" was. These values would help to protect downtown Hudson from any future development. These values were put to the test twice in 1984 during the McDonald's construction project and the Acme versus the Village of Hudson court case; both companies had to conform to the 1997 HHA Architecture Criteria Study and create historic-like buildings in Hudson.

Patricia Eldredge is also the author of the book Square Dealers, which is about the history of the Main Street and Public Square in Hudson, published in 1980.