Plainfield, Illinois | |
|---|---|
 Village Hall in Plainfield, Illinois | |
 Location of Plainfield in Will County, Illinois | |
  Plainfield  Plainfield  Plainfield | |
| Coordinates:41°37′02″N88°14′00″W / 41.61722°N 88.23333°W /41.61722; -88.23333[1] | |
| Country | United States |
| State | Illinois |
| Counties | Will,Kendall |
| Townships | Plainfield (Will Co.) Wheatland (Will Co.) Na-Au-Say (Kendall Co.) Oswego (Kendall Co.) |
| Government | |
| • Mayor | John F. Argoudelis |
| Area | |
• Total | 25.75 sq mi (66.68 km2) |
| • Land | 24.71 sq mi (64.00 km2) |
| • Water | 1.03 sq mi (2.68 km2) |
| Elevation | 610 ft (190 m) |
| Population (2020) | |
• Total | 44,762 |
| • Density | 1,811.4/sq mi (699.38/km2) |
| Time zone | UTC−6 (CST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−5 (CDT) |
| ZIP codes | 60544, 60585, 60586 |
| Area codes | 331/630 and779/815 |
| FIPS code | 17-60287 |
| GNIS feature ID | 2399684[1] |
| Wikimedia Commons | Plainfield, Illinois |
| Website | www |
Plainfield is avillage inWill andKendall counties in the U.S. state ofIllinois. The population was 44,762 at the2020 census. It is part of theChicago metropolitan area.
The village includes land in Will County'sPlainfield andWheatland townships, as well asNa-Au-Say andOswego townships in Kendall County. With the growth in theChicago suburbs in the 1990s and 2000s, the village has seen a population increase from 4,500 in 1990 to nearly 45,000 in 2020. It is midway between the cities ofNaperville andJoliet in Chicago'scollar counties.
The village has established a community Preservation Commission and historic preservation ordinance. It is the home of theLake Renwick Preserve, a county forest preserve used forbirdwatching and other activities. Located south of Village Hall is Settlers' Park, which includes a lake, war monument, open space, and more. The park presents outdoor concerts to the public in the summer.[3]
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The area was called "Walkers' Grove" until it wasplatted as "Plainfield" in 1841. It was originally settled by a large community ofPotawatomi people, and the land was later bequeathed to the United States as part of theTreaty of St. Louis (1816) with the Council of the Three Fires. Indian Boundary Road aligns with the western border of the tract of land originally ceded.
The earliest Europeans in the area were French fur traders. The first European-American settler in the area was James Walker, who with his father-in-law,Methodist minister Jessie Walker, traveled here in 1826 where he established a small mission for the Potawatomi people. James Walker, Jesse Walker's son-in-law, traveled with him and became the first European-American to claim land in the area in 1828.[4]
In 1828, James Walker, in the company of several men, erected a sawmill around which the settlement of Walkers' Grove developed.
Plainfield is identified as the oldest community in Will County because the earliest settlement of Walkers' Grove was established on the banks of theDuPage River by 1828. However, the actual village of Plainfield was platted immediately north of Walkers' Grove in 1834 by Chester Ingersoll. The separate community of East Plainfield was platted in June 1836 by James Mathers, who began selling lots in July 1836. He also constructed agristmill and a mill race west of Water Street, which would later become Plainfield-Naperville Road. Ingersoll's "Planefield" which comprised lots in Section 16, along with Mather's East Plainfield lots in Section 10 and Levi Arnold's plat of Section 9, all became joined to create the present-day village after the death of Levi Arnolds in 1845.
Walkers' Grove flourished because of the DuPage River and established routes toFort Dearborn inChicago, as well as toOttawa to the west. Reuben Flagg hauled lumber from Walker's mill to Chicago in order to erect the first two frame structures in the city (the P.F.W. Peck House and the George Dole Forwarding House). Chicago also depended upon the settlement for mail and supplies.
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The community's early prosperity was stunted when theIllinois and Michigan Canal opened in 1848, because the village was not located along the canal. Located within the village are numerousGreek Revival,Upright and Wing cottages,[5][clarification needed] a school built in 1847, and a number of early-19th-century homes. Plainfield currently has three buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places:Plainfield Halfway House,Flanders House, and a1928 Standard Oil gas station.[6]
As Illinois was dominated byabolitionists and was a free state, Plainfield abolitionists offered food and shelter to runaway slaves following theUnderground Railroad.[7]
North Central College was founded in the village in 1861 as Plainfield College.
ThePlainfield Public Library District was founded in the village in 1925 as the Nimmons Village of Plainfield Free Public Library.
Plainfield is the birthplace of Eddie Gardner, one of the pilots credited with establishing the transcontinental air mail routes for theUnited States Postal Service. The earliest architects associated with buildings in Plainfield are J.E. Minott of Aurora; G. Julian Barnes &John H. Barnes of Joliet; andHerbert Cowell of Joliet and Plainfield.[8]
Certain older parts of Plainfield once suffered from extreme traffic congestion. BeforeInterstate 55 was built just east of the village in the late 1950s,U.S. Route 30 (theLincoln Highway) andU.S. Route 66 (sometimes referred to as "The Mother Road") merged into one street for three blocks in the center of town on what is nowIllinois Route 59. The merge was between Plainfield/Joliet Road on the south to Lockport Street on the north but continues to be an area of heavy traffic congestion even outside heavy commuting periods.[original research?] At one time, the two longest paved highways in the world (Lincoln Highway andU.S. Route 66) crossed within Plainfield. The highways only crossed each other twice and both locations are in Will County. The other location is in neighboringJoliet.
On August 28, 1990, an F5 tornado ran its course through Plainfield. The tornado killed 29 people, 24 of whom were killed instantly and 5 that died later from injuries; 353 were injured. More than 1,100 homes were damaged and destroyed. The tornado made it across more than 16 miles (26 km) in 30 minutes. It destroyed the only Plainfield high school at the time, now called Plainfield Central High School. A warning sounded only after the tornado had passed through the town.[9] A population boom started to take place at the end of the 20th century after the tornado, with a large number of new home subdivisions. Before this, Plainfield was primarily an agricultural town.
Plainfield is located in northwestern Will County. The village limits extend west into the eastern part of Kendall County. Plainfield is bordered to the south by the city ofJoliet, to the east by the village ofRomeoville, to the northeast by the village ofBolingbrook, and to the north by the city ofNaperville. Farmland in Kendall County is to the west.
Interstate 55 runs along the eastern edge of the village, with access from two exits. I-55 leads northeast 34 miles (55 km) to the center ofChicago and southwest 100 miles (160 km) toBloomington.U.S. Route 30 passes through the center of Plainfield, leading northwest 13 miles (21 km) toMontgomery and southeast 9 miles (14 km) toJoliet.Illinois Route 126 crosses US-30 in the center of Plainfield, leading northeast 2.5 miles (4.0 km) to I-55 and west 14 miles (23 km) toYorkville.Illinois Route 59 runs through the center of Plainfield with US-30 but leads north 9 miles (14 km) to the west side ofNaperville and south 6 miles (10 km) toShorewood.
According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Plainfield has a total area of 25.75 square miles (66.69 km2), of which 24.71 square miles (64.00 km2) (or 95.98%) is land and 1.03 square miles (2.67 km2) (or 4.02%) is water.[10] TheDuPage River flows through the village center, running south towards theDes Plaines River in theIllinois River watershed.
Like its namesake, Plainfield's topography is generally flat. Thousands of years ago, land in greater Plainfield used to be part of the bed of proglacial Lake Wauponsee. However, the lake did not hold up long, and eventually drained into the Illinois River valley.[11] The lake left behind a very flat landscape. Much of downtown Plainfield has an elevation of around 600–625 feet (183–191 m) above sea level, with some areas in the western and northwestern portions of the village's outskirts exceeding 700 feet (210 m). This rise in elevation was created byterminal moraines that were formed during theWisconsin Episode of the last ice age's last glacial period that has been recorded.
| Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1870 | 723 | — | |
| 1880 | 686 | −5.1% | |
| 1890 | 852 | 24.2% | |
| 1900 | 920 | 8.0% | |
| 1910 | 1,019 | 10.8% | |
| 1920 | 1,147 | 12.6% | |
| 1930 | 1,428 | 24.5% | |
| 1940 | 1,485 | 4.0% | |
| 1950 | 1,764 | 18.8% | |
| 1960 | 2,183 | 23.8% | |
| 1970 | 2,928 | 34.1% | |
| 1980 | 3,777 | 29.0% | |
| 1990 | 4,557 | 20.7% | |
| 2000 | 13,038 | 186.1% | |
| 2010 | 39,581 | 203.6% | |
| 2020 | 44,762 | 13.1% | |
| U.S. Decennial Census[12] | |||
As of the2020 census[13] there were 44,762 people, 13,365 households, and 11,399 families residing in the village. The population density was 1,738.60 inhabitants per square mile (671.28/km2). There were 14,027 housing units at an average density of 544.82 per square mile (210.36/km2). The racial makeup of the village was 70.63%White, 6.97%African American, 0.36%Native American, 9.67%Asian, 0.03%Pacific Islander, 3.22% fromother races, and 9.11% from two or more races.Hispanic orLatino of any race were 11.42% of the population.
There were 13,365 households, out of which 52.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.06% were married couples living together, 8.55% had a female householder with no husband present, and 14.71% were non-families. 11.94% of all households were made up of individuals, and 4.93% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.66 and the average family size was 3.35.
The village's age distribution consisted of 30.5% under the age of 18, 8.2% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 27.6% from 45 to 64, and 9.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37.1 years. For every 100 females, there were 94.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.0 males.
The median income for a household in the village was $131,241, and the median income for a family was $141,664. Males had a median income of $76,366 versus $50,053 for females. Theper capita income for the village was $45,365. About 1.2% of families and 1.8% of the population were below thepoverty line, including 2.5% of those under age 18 and 4.3% of those age 65 or over.
| Race / Ethnicity(NH = Non-Hispanic) | Pop 2000[14] | Pop 2010[15] | Pop 2020[16] | % 2000 | % 2010 | % 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| White alone (NH) | 12,444 | 29,415 | 30,435 | 93.14% | 74.32% | 67.99% |
| Black or African American alone (NH) | 109 | 2,155 | 3,048 | 0.84% | 5.44% | 6.81% |
| Native American orAlaska Native alone (NH) | 7 | 46 | 51 | 0.05% | 0.12% | 0.11% |
| Asian alone (NH) | 163 | 2,993 | 4,299 | 1.25% | 7.56% | 9.60% |
| Native Hawaiian orPacific Islander alone (NH) | 1 | 12 | 10 | 0.01% | 0.03% | 0.02% |
| Other race alone (NH) | 16 | 62 | 140 | 0.12% | 0.16% | 0.31% |
| Mixed race or Multiracial (NH) | 94 | 651 | 1,668 | 0.72% | 1.64% | 3.73% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 504 | 4,247 | 5,111 | 3.87% | 10.73% | 11.42% |
| Total | 13,038 | 39,581 | 44,762 | 100.00% | 100.00% | 100.00% |
In the mid-1800s, the business district of Plainfield consisted of wood-framed buildings of all shapes and sizes, yet between 1-2 stories high, and commonly had projecting awnings of wood and metal, along with either false fronted, horizontal wood cornices or large display windows.[17] There were wood plank sidewalks that were elevated 2 ft above the dirt roads on a limestone foundation.[17] The last wood-framed building constructed on Lockport St. was in 1869, and the first masonry buildings constructed along Lockport St. were in 1865, and the post 1870 masonry buildings introduced a new commercial look where common design themes began to integrate the buildings together; including: identical floor and roof lines, cast iron storefronts with larger windows, operable canvas awnings, stamped metal cornices, etc.[17]
The early church buildings of Plainfield were wood-framed and imposed Greek Revival and Gothic Revival edifices along the dirt roads.[17] In the 1850s, four different congregations built churches along Lockport street, including the Methodists, Congregationalists, the Baptists, and the Evangelicals.[17]
In 1836 the Methodists built a wood-framed church (located on present-day Lockport street), and in 1868 they built another church much larger and of limestone (located on present-day Illinois street in downtown Plainfield).[17][18] The original church built in 1836 was later converted into a business on the first floor and a social hall on the second floor.[17]
In 1850 the Congregational Church (located at present-day Lockport and Illinois streets) was built and cost $2,200.[18] The east wing of the church was added in 1907.[18]
In 1836 the Baptist church erected their first church, sized at 26 ft by 36 ft, and cost of $2,500.[18] This church was later turned into a blacksmith shop in 1857 following the construction of a new church that costed $4,500-$5,000, and burned down in 1914, then rebuilt on the same site again (located at present-day Division and Lockport streets).[18]
Within Will County, the majority of Plainfield is inPlainfield Community Consolidated School District 202, while portions are inOswego Community Unit School District 308, andIndian Prairie Community Unit School District 204.[19] In Kendall County, most of those parts of Plainfield sare in the Owsego district, while some portions are in the Plainfield district.[20]
Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202 serves portions of Plainfield,Joliet,Crest Hill,Bolingbrook,Romeoville, andPlainfield Township in unincorporated parts of Will County.
Peak enrollment in the district took place in 2010–2011 at 29,254 students. The enrollment has been steadily declining since that time, and is currently declining at several hundred students per year. Current enrollment is 24,737 for the 2022–2023 school year.[21]
| High School | Established | School District | Location | County |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plainfield Central High School | 1959 | Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202[1] | 24120 Fort Beggs Dr, Plainfield, IL 60544 | Will |
| Plainfield South High School | 2001 | Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202[2] | 7800 Caton Farm Rd, Plainfield, IL 60586 | Kendall |
| Plainfield North High School | 2005 | Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202[3] | 12005 S 248th Ave, Plainfield, IL 60585 | Will |
| Plainfield East High School | 2008 | Plainfield Community Consolidated School District 202[4] | 12001 S Naperville Rd, Plainfield, IL 60585 | Will |
Major highways in Plainfield include:
Interstate Highways |
ThePace bus system expanded two routes (755 and 855) to Plainfield beginning May 6, 2013. Both routes are "bi-directional, weekday rush hour service"[22] from the Plainfield Village Center toDowntown Chicago. One route terminates in theIllinois Medical District and the other in Chicago'sEast Loop.[23]
Places adjacent to Plainfield, Illinois | |
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Municipalities and communities ofWill County, Illinois,United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Villages | ||
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| Other communities | ||
| Ghost town | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
Municipalities and communities ofKendall County, Illinois,United States | ||
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| Cities |  | |
| Villages | ||
| Townships | ||
| CDP | ||
| Other unincorporated communities | ||
| Footnotes | ‡This populated place also has portions in an adjacent county or counties | |
Authority control databases: Geographic |
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