Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1815.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Preble’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Preble is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its share of homes from before 1940 ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
A
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Preble’s overall grade.
New York towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New York town has 12.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Preble’s 17.4 sits near the middle of its state (54% of New York towns have fewer) while its 2 listings outnumber those of 60% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B+ to A. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±8.4 points). Two sources give 1808.
Founding year: Wikipedia (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Preble’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Preble is within the former Central New York Military Tract. The land was first settled around 1796.
The town of Preble was organized in 1808, the year Cortland County was formed, from the town of Tully (now in Onondaga County). Preble was one of the original towns of the county when it was formed. The town was reduced in size by the later formation of the town of Scott.
The First Presbyterian Church and Little York Pavilion are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Preble was organized April 8, 1808, from the original south half of the old military to wu ship of Tully. In 1815 it was reduced to its present limits by the erection of the town of Scott.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The town of Preble presents a broken and diversified aspect. The western portion exhibits several abrupt and high elevations, the highest point of which is Mount Topping. There are numerous legendary reminiscences treasured up in the minds of some of the old sachems of the Iroquois tribe, which give a somewhat prominent feature to this rugged miniature mountain. Here the bear, the wolf, and the panther were driven from their
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Preble, 1808 to 1980
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
In 1808, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Preble’s post office opened in 1815, and the census of 1820 counted 1,257 people here.
How does Preble rank for history?
Preble is more historic than 85% of U.S. towns. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
What is on the National Register in Preble?
Two places: the Little York Pavilion (listed 1979) and the First Presbyterian Church (2002).
How old are the homes in Preble?
30% of Preble’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±8.4 points), against a typical 27% for a New York town; the median home was built in 1960.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
From Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (2), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
