Plainfield is a town, located west of Indianapolis along U.S. 40. Quakers from the Carolinas were the first to settle in the Plainfield area in 1823. A post office opened in 1835, and, four years later, Levi Jessup and Elias Hadley platted Plainfield alongside the , which opened in 1830. Within a short time, businesses were serving travelers, though the road was often nearly impassable with mud. In 1842, a stagecoach carrying former president Martin Van Buren reportedly was tipped over in the mud east of Plainfield by a local driver to protest Van Buren’s veto of a federal road improvement bill.
In 1850-1851, the Vandalia Railroad was constructed just north of the town. The depot served for many years as a shipping point for local agricultural products. The Terre Haute Line arrived in 1907 to transport passengers to and from Indianapolis and points west.
Correctional, medical, and educational institutions opened in Plainfield at an early date. The House of Refuge for Delinquent Boys, which became known as the Indiana Boys School in 1903, was built in 1867. Serial killer Charles Manson was once an inmate. In 2006, the Indiana Boys’ School became the Indianapolis Re-Entry facility. From 2006 to 2009, it was used as a restricted minimum-security prison for male adult offenders, and it was the first U.S. correctional institution dedicated to facilitating re-entry into the community.
The first public school was organized in 1878, while Quakers set up a secondary school, Central Academy, in 1881. From 1891 to 1918, the Plainfield Keeley Institute treated nearly 4,000 patients addicted to alcohol and nicotine.
More recently, the westside of Plainfield became home to the Plainfield Correctional Facility (formerly the Indiana Youth Center) of Indiana Department of Corrections, which was established in 1964. Boxer was incarcerated there after being convicted of rape in an Indianapolis trial. He served three years of a six-year term in Plainfield beginning in 1992.
There was little industry in Plainfield until after World War II when built its headquarters in the town. New factories on the west side of Indianapolis also employed Plainfield workers. In 1960, the town counted nearly 5,500 residents; by 1970, the number had reached 8,000. Growth slowed slightly from 1980 to 1990, when the population increased from 9,000 to 10,400.
Public Service Indiana (now Duke Energy Indiana) brought hundreds of workers to the community in 1951. By 2018, the utility recorded about 2,700 employees in Plainfield. Other significant employers include Mr. Electric of Central Indiana, the Amazon Fulfillment Center, Q-edge Corporation, and Ingram Micro Mobility.
The economic engine of Plainfield is located on the east side of town. A sprawling warehouse district with 45 million square feet of warehouse space provides 50 percent of all warehouse jobs in central Indiana. Not far from this area is the 600,000-square-foot open-air retail mall, the Shops at Perry Crossing. The Plainfield public school system includes one preschool, four elementary schools, one middle school, and one high school. After slowing from 1980 to 1990, with increased development population growth has accelerated in the 2000s.
To promote community recreation Plainfield has invested significant resources in its parks and trails system. The 11,300-square-foot Plainfield Recreation and Aquatic Center boasts three basketball courts, an indoor track, and a fitness center. The Splash Island Family Waterpark is the centerpiece of the recreation center, providing three acres of outdoor lounging space, a competition pool with diving boards, a recreational pool with waterslides, and a lazy river. The recreation center is connected to Plainfield’s numerous parks via 20 miles of pathways on the Vandalia Trail, formerly the Vandalia Railway.
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