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Welcome To KEY TO THE CITY's Page For
Plainfield
Union County, New Jersey
ZipCodes
07060, 07061, 07062, 07063
Motto
The Queen City
History & History-related items
Chamber of Commerce.
Organizations, Churches, and Sports.
The city was first settled in 1684 by Quakers. There are still some vintage buildings of that era in Plainfield, one being the Friends' meetinghouse of 1788. The Nathaniel Drake House (1746) was used as George Washington's headquarters during the Revolutionary War. Initially, Plainfield was a township, created on 5 April 1847 as part of Essex County. When Union County was created on 19 March 1857, it became part of the new county. It was incorporated as a city on 21 April 1869. Both the city and the township were separate until 6 March 1878 when the township was dissolved with portions going to the city of Plainfield and the rest to Fanwood Township.
Here is a history page for Plainfield
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Attractions
Drake House Museum
602 West Front Street
Plainfield, NJ 07060
Phone: 908-755-5831
The Plainfield Symphony
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Plainfield is governed by a Mayor and a seven person city council. All serve four year terms. Three of the seats are at large.
Plainfield Historical Events
1967 07 July
The Plainfield Riots
The riots here were associated with the larger Newark riots of the same time period. Thousands of dollars in damage was done through looting and arson. About 50 people were injured and one Plainfield police officer died. The New Jersey National Guard was called in to calm things down after three days. The riots affected the growth and distribution of race in the area for years later.
The number of housing units was:
1990 - 16,063
2000 - 16,180
Median age:
2000 - 33 years
Per capita Income:
2000 - $ 19,052
2008 - $ 23,560
Median house value:
2000 - $ 137,500
2008 - $ 298,238
Plainfield is located in the Eastern Time Zone and does participate in daylight savings time during a portion of the year.
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