Colorado of the East, "the Queen City," "City of Homes," and "Wall Street Suburb" are all monikers that have been applied to Plainfield over the years, but no single phrase can capture the essence of this wonderfully diverse and unique place. From its inauspicious start as an agrarian Quaker community in the fields beyond Elizabethtown, post-Civil War Plainfield developed into a complete incarnation of gilded-age splendor. It flourished briefly as a summer resort before becoming an affluent bedroom community for New York City's financiers and captains of industry. As economic and development...