Plainfield, Connecticut (Images of America Series) »

This book was compiled by the Plainfield Historical Society and complements Christopher P. Bickford's history titled Plainfield Transformed: Three Centuries of Life in a Connecticut Town, 1699-1999. The photographs reflect life during the textile-mill era from the late 1800s to early 1950s. Both professional and amateur photographers produced the pictures, many of which are from the society's collection. The narrative is based on original source materials and the stories of residents who loaned photographs for this project.

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 town attracting workers from all over New England, Canada, and Europe. Today the textile industry is gone, and the surviving mills have been converted to other uses. Located in the northeastern part of the state, Plainfield is in the heart of the breathtaking Quinebaug-Shetucket National Heritage Corridor.