Plainfield, Illinois

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Plainfield
Plainfield Town Hall
Plainfield Town Hall
Location in Illinois
Plainfield, Illinois
Plainfield
Plainfield
Basic data
Foundation : 1841
State : United States
State : Illinois
Counties : Will County
Kendall County
Coordinates : 41 ° 37 ′  N , 88 ° 13 ′  W Coordinates: 41 ° 37 ′  N , 88 ° 13 ′  W
Time zone : Central ( UTC − 6 / −5 )
Inhabitants :
Metropolitan Area :
39,581 (status: 2010)
9,572,572 (status: 2010)
Population density : 1,315 inhabitants per km 2
Area : 32.2 km 2  (approx. 12 mi 2 ) of
which 30.1 km 2  (approx. 12 mi 2 ) is land
Height : 164 m
Postcodes : 60544, 60585, 60586
Area code : +1 815
FIPS : 17-60287
GNIS ID : 2399684
Website : www.plainfield-il.org
Mayor : Michael P. Collins (President)

Plainfield is a village in Will and Kendall Counties in the northeast of the US state of Illinois and part of the Chicago metropolitan area . According to a 2010 census, Plainfield had a population of 39,581.

The location includes land in the Plainfield and Wheatland townships. Due to the growth in the Chicago suburbs in the 1990s and 2000s, the place experienced a construction boom and a rapid increase in population. The population rose from 4,500 in 1990 to 13,000 in 2000 and to over 37,000 in 2007. Plainfield is the fastest growing community in Will County. In the village is the Lake Renwick nature reserve, which is used for bird watching and other activities.

history

The Flanders House , listed in the NRHP since 1991

The area where the village is today was called Walkers Grove until it was developed as Plainfield in 1841. The land was originally settled by a Potawatomi tribe. The first Europeans in the area were French fur traders . The first European settlers in the area were James Walker, who founded a mission for the Potawatomi Indians in the area with his father-in-law, the Methodist Reverend Jessie Walker in 1826. In 1828 James Walker founded a sawmill that supplied the lumber needed for the settlement of Walkers Grove .

Plainfield is considered the oldest civil parish in Will County, with Walkers Grove earliest settlement on the banks of the DuPage River in 1828. However, the place Plainfield was founded immediately north of Walkers Grove in 1834 by Chester Ingersoll. The separate East Plainfield ward was founded in June 1836 by James Mathers.

Walkers Grove flourished because of its advantageous geographic location on the DuPage River and the roads to Fort Dearborn in Chicago and Ottawa . Reuben Flagg, one of the first settlers in the area, brought walnut wood that was cut at the Walker Mill to Chicago. The first half-timbered houses were built there. With the opening of the Illinois & Michigan Canal in 1848, the advantages of the location were lost because the village was not on the canal.

Plainfield currently has three buildings listed on the National Register of Historic Places: Plainfield House, Flanders House, and a 1928 Standard Oil gas station on the Lincoln Highway , one of the first transcontinental roads in America.

On August 28, 1990, a tornado in Plainfield caused considerable property damage. 29 people died and hundreds were injured.

geography

According to the United States Census Bureau , the site has an area of ​​32.2 km 2 , of which 30.1 km 2 are land and 2.1 km 2 are water.

As the place name suggests, Plainfield's topography is generally flat. Millennia ago Plainfield was part of the glacial lake Lake Waupon. The lake eventually drained into the Illinois River valley. The lake left a very flat landscape. Much of downtown Plainfield is 180 to 190 meters above sea level, with some areas in the western and northwestern hamlets being 210 meters. This rise in altitude was caused by terminal moraines during the Wisconsin Glaciation of the last Ice Age.

Demographic data

According to the 2000 census , 13,038 people in 4,315 households and 3,521 families lived in the village. The population density was 420 people per km 2 . There were 4609 housing units at an average density of 153.3 units per km 2 . In the 4,315 households, there were children under the age of 18 in 47.3% of cases. In the households, 73.6% were married couples, 5.7% had a female householder without a husband, and 18.4% were non-families. 14.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.2% had people living in them who were 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.01 and the average family size was 3.37.

economy

In the industrial area of ​​Plainfield, the beverage company Diageo has been operating a bottling plant since 1966 , where it primarily fills spirits into bottles. In 2013, 31 million cases of alcohol (vodka (including Smirnoff), rum (including Captain Morgan), whiskey (including George Dickel), cocktails) were filled there in an area of ​​50,000 square meters.

Known residents

Actress Melissa McCarthy and basketball player Nate Fox were born in Plainfield.

Individual evidence

  1. Extract from the National Register of Historic Places - No. 91001688.Retrieved July 5, 2011
  2. US Census Bureau - 2000 Census Data for Plainfield, IL.Retrieved July 5, 2011
  3. Chuck Cowdery: Diageo Invests $ 120M in Three New Bottling Lines , The Chuck Cowdery Blog August 6, 2014

Web links

Commons : Plainfield, Illinois  - Collection of pictures, videos, and audio files