Plainfield is the oldest community in Will County. The area was originally home to the Potawatomi Indians who lived along the DuPage River when the French fur trapper Vetel Vermette came to settle in the region. Jesse Walker, a Methodist minister, along with his son-in-law James Walker, came to the area and built a log cabin on the east side of the DuPage River in 1828. James built a permanent sawmill on the river by 1830 in a grove of trees known...