Plainfield

History

When the government of independent Vermont was being organized, the surveyor for northern Vermont, James Whitelaw, noticed that a parcel of land, smaller than the standard town size of six miles (10 km) square and lying between Montpelier and Marshfield, had not been granted to any settlers. One corner of this "gore" was marked as "St. Andrew's Corner". Whitelaw and his assistants were later paid for their work with land grants, one of which was the St. Andrews's gore. The village of Plainfield, Wisconsin was named by its postmaster Elijah C. Waterman to honor his hometown of Plainfield, Vermont.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 21.0 square miles (54.5 km2), of which 21.0 square miles (54.4 km2) is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1 km2) (0.19%) is water. Plainfield, the primary village, is located in the northern corner of the town along the Winooski River and U.S. Route 2. Goddard College is located just west of the village. The ground rises to the east in the town, culminating at Spruce Mountain within Groton State Forest.

Race & ethnicity