Plainfield

PLAINFIELD Here a territory known as "Quinebaug Country" was purchased from Allumps, a renegade Narragansett Indian chief, by two sons of John Winthrop, Jr., in November of 1653. A petition for a township was granted in May of 1699, and the Governor named the area Plainfield for the "level and fertile" lands along the Quinebaug River. This included the present towns of Plainfield and Canterbury. In 1703 a division was granted and Canterbury became a separate township. In 1702 the first meeting house was built on Black Hill. Next, schools were established and the first schoolmaster was hired in 1708. In 1784 the famous Plainfield Academy was incorporated. The First Church of Christ in Plainfield (Congregational) was organized in 1705, the present stone structure being erected in 1816. (Continued on other side) PLAINFIELD (Continued from other side) Plainfield's first industries were gristmills and sawmills built along the Moosup and Quinebaug rivers in the early 1700's. Textiles made their first appearance in the 1800's, and as a result the town flourished as an industrial center. The movement away from textiles in the 1930's brought about the manufacture of diversified products. From these early beginnings, the villages of Wauregan, Moosup, Central Village, and Plainfield eventually developed and compose the makeup of the present town.