The Birth of Plainfield (2) - On the Move

The town's population blossomed after the first train came to Plainfield on January 1, 1839, offering commuters same day access to New York City. The first map of Plainfield was drawn in 1832 when the population was 740. By the 1850 census the population had grown to 2742.

HERE COMES THE TRAIN!

Plainfield's Evening News' byline read: Plainfield, NJ "The Colorado of the East." Indeed people poured in to improve their lives. The first train, The Elizabethtown and Somerville, consisted of a single locomotive made by Baldwin. The track appropriately followed the Old Post Road between Plainfield and Elizabethport.

Train Derails, Paul Collier

It took the town years to finish the track, but when they made an agreement with the ferry in Elizabethport to provide the option of ferry service to the city, the train finally happened. When in 1847 the E & S Railroad declared bankruptcy, it was bought in the same year by John Stearns and Coffin Colket and reorganized as the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

An entire new body of common law was in the making. As the Evening News had predicted there were possibilities of accidents. Freeloading abounded. There were no regulations in the beginning but notices began showing up in the newspapers and police logs.

Early postcards capture the tenor of the time with images of horse- drawn carriages meeting the train. "Central Railroad of New Jersey, New York Somerville And Easton commencing May 2, 1853…. Stage routes run in connection with trains from New York as follows: At Plainfield 12 Midday on Wednesday and 3:45 on Saturdays". Blacksmiths had to stretch with the times to offer buggy rides in addition to their horseshoeing businesses.

footer