"Two hundred years ago, William Bruce platted the town of Eaton. Bruce, who built the area's first gristmill, reserved some land for himself and his heirs for waterworks and mills, but if the land was not to be used for those purposes, then he wanted the land to remain free. So on Feb. 20, 1806, Eaton was born with 233 lots. Bruce gave five lots for public land, four of which were at the intersection of Preble (now Main Street) and Barron streets. Today, the Preble County Courthouse sits on one of those designated public land lots and a three-story brick merchant building, built in 1822, still houses a business. A number of smaller frame buildings occupied the southwest corner of the town center until the St. Clair building was built in 1892. After a fire destroyed that building in 1987, the land was designated a community space."