Plainfield

There are two dozen places in the United States named Plainfield, but Plainfield, Connecticut, was the first. When it was incorporated in 1699, Colonial governor Fitz-John Winthrop named the town for its rich, fertile fields along the Quinebaug River. During the 1700s, the town was transformed from Native American country to a farming community populated by English settlers. In the 1800s, textile mills were built along the Moosup and Quinebaug Rivers, and Plainfield became an industrial tow...