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History · Eaton · established 1806
4 landmarks tell Eaton’s storyThe public archives hold only 5 old photos of Eaton. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.
1806 established
5 old photos & papers
4 historic places
10 famous people
3 need a date
From Eaton’s archive · credits on each photo What stands out about Eaton’s past Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
On the National Register 4 historic places in Eaton The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1970
Fort St. Clair Site
All 4 listings National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.
Famous people 10 famous people were born in Eaton Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
See all → The story How Eaton came to be From Wikipedia’s history of Eaton.
Read it all → Eaton was founded and platted in 1806 by William Bruce. The village derives its name from William Eaton, the U.S. Consul General to Tunis from 1797–1803 and commander of U.S. military forces in First Barbary War. In addition to the city of Eaton and the county of Preble, various streets in Eaton (including Barron, Decatur, Israel, Wadsworth, and Somers) were named in honor of heroes of the First Barbary War and Second Barbary War.
Text from Wikipedia , licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 .
At a glance
Established 1806
Half its homes built before 1974
Oldest landmark with a date Acton House, 1817
Oldest item in the archive 1909
People in 2020 8,375 The houses today → By decade Eaton, decade by decade One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
1910s–1990s nothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these years Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album Then & now Stand where they stood No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.
Retake this view Public Library, 1909 Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Eaton’s page.
Retake this view · +15 Places that used to be Places now gone and burying grounds Eaton’s post office has been open since 1813.
Gone or out of use Preble County Homebuilding
3 cemeteries and burying grounds inside Eaton
County Home Fort Saint Clair Mound Hill
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
Help out Start Eaton’s collection The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Eaton’s history is told.
Decades since 1900 with photos 00s 10s 20s 30s 40s 50s 60s 70s 80s 90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album. Memory lane What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Town Square →
Weigh in
Has Eaton changed for the better?
Yes I miss the old days
Your answer becomes a post in Town Square.
Start a conversation
What used to stand where something else is now in Eaton? → Who remembers Eaton in the 1950s? → A family story from old Eaton → Does anyone have photos of Eaton from the 1990s? →
From Wikimedia Commons (6), the Library of Congress (1), Wikidata (4), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata for famous people, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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1909
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