A settlement bordering the millpond of the Preston Mill Company, whose plant overshadowed the village. The town once had a saw mill. It was named by Daniel H. Gilman, for his associate in building the Seattle, Lake Shore & Eastern Railway through the area, William T. Preston. Mr. Preston served as the district engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during World War I and was responsible for the construction of Fort Ward on Bainbridge Island. The Preston Community Center, a handsome building of local lumber and stone constructed in 1939 as a WPA project, overlooks the site of the old mill. It is a designated King County Landmark.