Was Plainfield really plain? Quirky perhaps
Everywhere you look in Will County you can see new construction, a lot of which is warehousing I admit. But the growth of homes has also been extraordinary. In Plainfield, 1,000 new homes are added annually. Today we look at the now heavily populated Plainfield as it was back in the day.
We start with a story from 1865 as reported in the Wilmington Independent on March 1. “We were shown, on Thursday last, a vial containing a small quantity of crude petroleum, taken from a spring on the farm of Mr. Frank Goist, in the town of Plainfield in this county. Some little excitement has been occasioned by the discovery, and it is supposed that further and rich developments will yet be made.”
“The Joliet Republican in speaking of the matter, says: “The oils spring is about one-half mile east of the plank road and four miles from this city. Many persons have visited the place this week, and there is reason to believe that there is no humbug about it.”
“In consequence of this discovery a company is being formed, with a large capital, in order to test the matter. Great excitement prevails in Plainfield. The same thing has spread among our monied citizens. Success to our enterprising neighbors.”
However, if it sounds too good to be true… We read two weeks later, “The “ile” excitement at Plainfield is now over. The bubble has “bust.” There are no more indications. The escape of gas, which was so strong as to make those sick that stood over it, now only makes them sick that “salted” it.”
“Prof Wilbur examined the celebrated spring, and pronounced it a humbug. The owner of the ground was obliged to admit that he had saturated the ground with kerosene, and has since been made to refund the money gained from those who had taken a pinch of his snuff, and are now sneezing over it.”
In 1876 news came from Plainfield that might have been heard in the Far West. The Plainfield correspondent for the Joliet Weekly Sun wrote, “About seventy of our citizens planned a grand wolf hunt for last Saturday, as it was rumored that wolves had been seen in the grove. That night there were about seventy men that had come to the conclusion that the wolves had all gone west.”
The roads around Plainfield were notoriously awful. A plank road had once been built, but it had either rotted or sunk into the prairie mud. In March of 1876 complaints were printed in the Weekly Sun, “Our lightning express has been obliged to lay over for the past few days on account of the bad roads; consequently, the mail has been carried on horseback to and from Plainfield.”
“We understand our merchants were short of Lockport flour, etc., during the past week, the condition of the roads prevented them from getting a new supply. Now if the narrow-gauge railroad was only running through this place, all these difficulties would be removed.”
As far as medicine goes, it does not appear that Plainfield was at all backward. From April 1876, “Mrs. Kallifer, living with her daughter, Mrs. Flagg, at Plainfield, has been a sufferer for the past five years from an ovarian tumor. The disease had lately made such progress that she evidently, unless relieved, had but a few weeks to live. Friday, Dr. Chas. Richards, assisted by Drs. Mitchell and Curtiss, of Joliet, Drs. Junk and Perkins, of Plainfield, removed the tumor, which weighed twenty-four pounds. The patient this morning was reported doing well.”
In June of that same year a strange fad hit the men of Plainfield. “There are quite a number of men in town who pay such strict attention to their musiness (croquet playing), that it is with difficulty they find time to do their gardening.”
Among the pleasant villages in the county it devolves upon the newspaper man to visit occasionally is the quiet but thrifty town of Plainfield. Those of the gentleman of leisure who were not too much engaged in croquet on the public square – as were Messrs. Van Olinda, Robertson and others – were found quietly discussing the result of their late town election.”
“The general hardware store of D. Robertson, Esq., presented a lively scene but to interview the proprietor, It became necessary to repair to the croquet ground, where he was earnestly engaged in giving instructions to Squire Van Olinda and Messrs. Ray and Doud in the scientific game as played by the invincible quartette.”
We end our history on a spectacular note, as the citizens of Plainfield did on July 3, 1879. “The Fourth was duly celebrated here. At 9:30 the procession formed on the public square and proceeded to the Hess’ Grove, where the assembled multitude was addressed by Dorrance Dibell, Esq., of Joliet. Music by the band, singing etc. filled up the rest of the day. In the evening everybody repaired to the green to see the display of fireworks.”
“There had been a platform erected, on which were the committee and the fireworks. Ad Spangler, Ed Gilbert and Norm Pratt were the committee. The fireworks were Roman candles, pin-wheels, rockets, blue fire and the like. It was a very creditable assortment for a town of the size of Plainfield. Several rockets were sent up, several pin-wheels fired, and everything was running smoothly. But the smell of gunpowder excited the committee and by some means fire was communicated to the box of combustibles.”
“No one knows how it happened, but Ad Spangler remembers that he was holding a torch in close proximity to the box. At any rate, there was a sudden fizz right under Ad, followed the next instant by a tornado of sounds and sparks, and that gentleman at once remembered that he had business on the terra firma, and descended without looking for the ladder. The air became thick with sparks, blue-lights, blazing balls, industrious pinwheels, insane rockets and screeching crackers.”
“Several ladies, in their haste to get away, fell over the fence and struck the ground with such force as to add materially to the display of fireworks already going on. Norm Pratt was struck on the back by a sky rocket and had two thirds of his clothing ruined. Gilbert was burned somewhat severely. He can’t part his back hair quite straight. This display of fireworks was the most brilliant as well as the briefest ever seen here.”
