The records from the town of Preble include statistical information on the town as well as correspondence, petitions, resolutions, ordinances and miscellaneous records. They document two related themes: the increasing urbanization (or, perhaps, suburbanization) of Preble and Preble's attempts to change its municipal status to better meet the demands of a growing community.
The problems and changes caused by urbanization can be traced to some extent in the Proceedings of the Zoning and Planning Commission, 1953-1964, BROWN SMALL SERIES 29, but to a greater extent in the Proceedings of the Town Board, (1884-1963), BROWN SERIES 37, and the Clerk's General File, (1858-1965), BROWN SERIES 38. Early records in these series show how roads were surveyed to give access
to land, the first zoning ordinances and the continual changes made in them, and growing government regulation of life in the town as seen in the appointment of Weed Commissioners and a Poundmaster. More regulatory officials were appointed as time went on, including building inspectors, electrical inspectors, and plumbing inspectors. Bulky files on construction of street lights, sidewalks, sewers, traffic control studies, bus routes, and school transportation show how important these topics became to town officers.
By the 1940s state laws and regulations affected life in the town in many ways. Town officials maintained a correspondence with such state agencies as the Board of Health, the Highway Commission, and the Public Service Commission.
The attempt to incorporate as a village caused factions in the town to make violent charges and counter-charges which are recorded in the scrapbook kept by the Town Clerk, BROWN SMALL SERIES 31. The Preble Centennial Booklet, BROWN SMALL SERIES 31, relates to the dispute in a more indirect way. By celebrating the town's 100th anniversary, possibly the people who wanted to incorporate Preble hoped to strengthen Preble's sense of separation from other communities and to keep it from merger with the City of Green Bay.
Evidence of the poor relations between the city and the town are mostly contained in the Clerk's General File, as are most of the papers on Preble's attempt to change its status. For decades, communications between the two communities were often impatient, complaining, or hostile. This correspondence illustrates another of Preble's urban problems. Besides regulating the increasing complicated internal life of the town, town officials had to supervise the community's competition with other expanding municipalities for population, space, and industry.
The Clerk's General File contains dozens of maps illustrating Preble's growth. For the early years there are some road surveys but most maps are plat maps for the period c. 1920-1965. A plat map is a drawing to scale of a piece of land subdivided into lots.
Most of the records of the Town of Preble are from the last thirty years of its existence.
