Preble

Formed March 1, 1808 (30^th county)

Preble County (40,998), Eaton (8,387)

A 1918 masonry Neo-Classical and Greek Revival facility serves Preble County.  It is located on Main Street at Barron Street.  United States Highway 127 is Barron Street in the town.  Harvey H. Heistand and Richards, McCarty, and Bulford are the combined architects.  The facility features columns, granite walls and an interior skylight.  There was also an 1851 courthouse also in Eaton, the only county seat.  The county was created on March 1, 1808 from parts of Montgomery and Butler counties as the 30^th county.  Preble County is named for American Revolutionary War hero Edward Preble.  The county seat is named for Revolutionary War General William Eaton. 

The area of the county is 424.8 square miles.  It is 48 out of 88 in the state.  It ranks 61 out of 88 in population in the state.  It has a density of 96.5 persons per square mile making it 56 out of 88 in the state.  Preble County has 42.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 70 travels through the county east to west from Montgomery County to Indiana.  United States Highway 35 comes from Montgomery County, east, and goes to Indiana, west.  United States Highway 40 parallels Interstate Highway 70 from Montgomery County to Indiana.  United States Highway 127 enters from the north, Darke County, and exits to the south, Butler County.  The county is a rectangle.  Eaton is located slightly south of center in the county.  Eaton is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 20.5% of the county population. 

Preble County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Three Common Pleas Court Judges serve Preble County.  The county is on the western border with Indiana.  Dayton, Ohio is directly east and Cincinnati, Ohio is south of the county.  The county center is in Eaton .7 miles West of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Darke, Montgomery, and Butler counties and Indiana.  This county is in the Dayton Metropolitan Statistical Area.