Located south of Village Hall is Settlers' Park, which includes a lake, war monument, open space, and more.

It was originally settled by a large community of Potawatomi people, and the land was later bequeathed to the United States as part of the Treaty 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.

Plainfield is identified as the oldest community in Will County because the earliest settlement of Walkers' Grove was established on the banks of the DuPage 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 a gristmill and a mill race west of Water Street, which would later become Plainfield-Naperville Road.

Walkers' Grove flourished because of the DuPage River and established routes to Fort Dearborn in Chicago, as well as to Ottawa 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.

Located within the village are numerous Greek Revival, Upright and Wing cottages,[5][clarification needed] a school built in 1847, and a number of early-19th-century homes.

[6] Plainfield abolitionists offered food and shelter to runaway slaves following the Underground Railroad.

Plainfield is the birthplace of Eddie Gardner, one of the pilots credited with establishing the transcontinental air mail routes for the United States Postal Service.

[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.

Thousands of years ago, land in greater Plainfield used to be part of the bed of proglacial Lake Wauponsee.

This rise in elevation was created by terminal moraines that were formed during the Wisconsin Episode of the last ice age's last glacial period that has been recorded.

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.

[19] In the 1850's, four different congregations built churches along Lockport street, including the Methodists, Congregationalists, the Baptists, and the Evangelicals.

[19] In 1850 the Congregational Church (located at present-day Lockport and Illinois streets) was built and cost $2,200.

Both routes are "bi-directional, weekday rush hour service"[21] from the Plainfield Village Center to Downtown Chicago.