Plainfield, New Jersey
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Plainfield is a city in Union County, New Jersey, United States. As of the United States 2000 Census, the city population was 47,829.
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Arts and popular culture
- The Plainfield Symphony makes its home in Plainfield. It performs concerts at Crescent Avenue Presbyterian Church. The orchestra was founded in 1919, making it one of the oldest continuously operating orchestras in the United States.
- In the 1985 film Brewster's Millions, Richard Pryor portrayed an aging minor league baseball pitcher whose team gets into a bar fight in Plainfield.
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Famous residents and natives
- Ernest R. Ackerman (1863-1931), represented New Jersey's 5th congressional district from 1919-1931.<ref>Ernest Robinson Ackerman, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed June 25, 2007.</ref>
- John Adams (1772-1863), educator, taught at the Plainfield Academy here for some years.<ref name="Marquis 1607-1896">Template:Cite book</ref>
- Rich Bagger (born 1960), former mayor of Westfield, New Jersey.
- Jeff Barry (born 1938) childhood home; pop music songwriter, singer, and record producer.
- Joe Black (1924-2002), birthplace and childhood home, professional baseball player, Brooklyn Dodgers, Cincinnati Reds.<ref>Joe Black, baseball pioneer and retired Greyhound Corp. executive, dies - Census - Obituary, Jet (magazine), June 3, 2002, accessed April 26, 2007. "A native of Plainfield, NJ, Black graduated from Morgan State in Baltimore."</ref>
- Judy Blume (born 1938), author.<ref>Goldblatt, Jennifer. "Blume's Day", The New York Times, November 14, 2004. Accessed February 5, 2008. "It wasn't until after Ms. Blume had gotten her bachelor's degree in education from New York University in 1961, was married and raising her son, Larry, and her daughter, Randy, and living in Plainfield and later Scotch Plains, that she started to commit her stories and characters to paper, cramming writing sessions in while the children were at preschool and at play."</ref>
- Van Wyck Brooks (1886-1963), author.<ref>NOT TO WRITE WAS NOT TO BE ALIVE, The New York Times, November 1, 1981, accessed April 26, 2007. "Van Wyck Brooks grew up in Plainfield, N.J., second son of a wellto-do Episcopalian and Republican family."</ref>
- Benjamin Brown (born 1968), actor, attended Plainfield High School.
- Taiwan Brown (born 1987), childhood and current home, TV Personality, attended Plainfield High School for the 9th and beginning of 10th grade year. He returned after the start of 11th grade and graduated from Plainfield High School.
- Milt Campbell (born 1933), birthplace and childhood home, 1956 Olympic Decathlon Gold Medal winner.<ref>"Field Day in Plainfield", Time (magazine), July 13, 1953, accessed April 26, 2007. "In Helsinki last summer, a big (6 ft. 3 in., 210 lbs.) Negro high-school boy from Plainfield, N.J. trudged wearily into a locker room in the Olympic stadium. Worn down by the two-day competition in the Olympics' most demanding test, Decathlon Man Milton Campbell gave World Champion Bob Mathias a congratulatory backslap, then flopped on a cot."</ref>
- Earl Clark (born 1988), player for the University of Louisville men's basketball team.<ref>Earl Clark, CSTV. Accessed January 2, 2008.</ref>
- George Clinton (born 1941), founder of Parliament-Funkadelic, childhood home.<ref>Fried, Johnathan. "JERSEY FOOTLIGHTS; A Funkmaster Comes Home", The New York Times, October 17, 1999, accessed April 26, 2007. "The Mothership landed on Oct. 6 when George Clinton, Plainfield native and funkmaster, brought his band to the Community Theater in Morristown for the second night of a monthlong national tour."</ref>
- Manny Collins (born 1984) American football cornerback.<ref>"71st Annual Hot Stove Awards Dinner, Feb. 11, Honors Union County Athletes, Young and Old", Union County, New Jersey press release dated February 2, 2007. Accessed November 14, 2007. "Manny Collins was a standout at both wide receiver and defensive back for the Plainfield High School Cardinals and earned All-County, All-Conference and All-Area honors."</ref>
- Archibald Cox (1912-2004), childhood home.<ref>Gormley, Ken. "IN MEMORIAM: ARCHIBALD COX", Harvard Law Review, November 2004. Accessed May 13, 2007. "He grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey, the son of a distinguished New York patent attorney."</ref>
- Bill Evans (1929-1980), childhood home.<ref>Lyons, Leonard S. "The Great Jazz Pianists: Speaking of Their Lives and Music", accessed May 13, 2007. "Bill Evans Grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey."</ref>
- J. Michael Fay (born 1956), conservationist.<ref>J. Michael Fay, United States Department of State. Accessed December 10, 2007.</ref>
- Jan Groover (born 1943) photographer noted for her use of emerging color technologies.<ref>Artist Biographies, The Cleveland Museum of Art. Accessed December 13, 2007.</ref>
- Dick Grote (born 1941), management consultant and author
- Mark Haines (born 1946), former host of the CNBC show Squawk Box who now appears on Squawk on the Street.<ref>Strauss, Robert. "NEW JERSEY & CO.; All Eyes Are on Fort Lee", The New York Times, April 23, 2000. Accessed December 14, 2007. "Alerted by a viewer, Mr. Haines -- a Plainfield native who now lives in Monmouth County -- researched tapes and noted that when Mr. Greenspan, the head of the Federal Reserve, carried a fat briefcase to the meetings, interest rates rose; a thin briefcase indicated lower rates."</ref>
- Robert Hand (born 1942), childhood home
- Bret Harte (1836-1902), author and poet.
- Eddie Hazel (1950-1992) lead guitarist; founding member of Parliament-Funkadelic
- Byron Hurt (born 1969), documentary filmmaker.<ref name="NYTimes">Template:Cite news</ref>
- David T. Kenney (1866-1922), inventor, longtime resident
- Robyn Kenney (born 1979), field hockey player.<ref>Robyn Kenney, USA Field Hockey. Accessed December 20, 2007.</ref>
- Phyllis Kirk (1927-2006), birthplace, actress
- Peter Liske (born 1942), former professional football player
- Burke Marshall (1922-2003), head of the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice during the Civil Rights Era.<ref>Barnes, Bart. "Burke Marshall, 80, Dies; JFK's Civil Rights Enforcer", The Washington Post, June 3, 2003. Accessed November 21, 2008. "Mr. Marshall, a native of Plainfield, N.J., graduated from Yale University."</ref>
- James Edgar Martine (1850-1925), United States Senator from New Jersey; childhood home.<ref>James Edgar Martine, Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed April 16, 2008.</ref>
- Mary McCormack (born 1969), birthplace.<ref>Mary McCormack cast member profile, The West Wing. Accessed September 30, 2007. "Born in Plainfield, New Jersey, McCormack is a graduate of Trinity College and resides in Los Angeles."</ref>
- Jim McGreevey (born 1957), former Governor of New Jersey.<ref>Kocieniewski, David. "Ex-Governor Is Back in Public, This Time as an Author", The New York Times, September 20, 2006. Accessed April 16, 2008. "While his resignation forced Mr. McGreevey to move out of Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion in Princeton, his new home in Plainfield has gardens designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, a circular driveway and a housecleaner who arrived on Tuesday driving a white Mercedes-Benz."</ref>
- Dudley Moore (1935-2002), resided there at time of death
- Nonnie Moore (1922-2009), fashion editor at Mademoiselle, Harper's Bazaar and GQ.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
- Boogie Mosson (born 1952), childhood home
- James S. Negley (1826-1901), died there
- Billy Bass Nelson (born 1951), childhood home
- Irving Penn (born 1917), birthplace and childhood home
- Kasim Reed (born 1969), birthplace, current Mayor of Atlanta.
- Jane Rule (born 1931), birthplace
- William Nelson Runyon (1871-1931), Acting Governor of New Jersey from 1919 to 1920.<ref>New Jersey Governor William Nelson Runyon, National Governors Association. Accessed August 3, 2007.</ref>
- Robert Shapiro (born 1942), childhood home
- Garry Shider (born 1953), childhood home
- Percy Hamilton Stewart (1867-1951), mayor of Plainfield in 1912 and 1913, represented New Jersey's 5th congressional district from 1931-1933.<ref>Percy Hamilton Stewart biography, United States Congress. Accessed July 10, 2007.</ref>
- Edward Herbert Thompson (1856-1935), died there
- Jeff Torborg (born 1941), Former professional baseball player and manager, birthplace
- Fred Van Eps (1878-1960), banjoist and early recording artist.<ref>Fred Van Eps -- Banjoist, Biography by Tim Gracyk. Accessed May 24, 2008.</ref>
- Rich Vos (born 1957), comedian.<ref>Staff. "Comics wait to see who'll be standing ", Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 5, 2003. Accessed November 21, 2008. "Two grizzled veteran comics with minimal name recognition until a few weeks ago -- Dave Mordal of Elk River, Minn., and Rich Vos of Plainfield, N.J. -- have found a higher level of fame thanks to NBC's moderately successful reality show 'Last Comic Standing'."</ref>
- Vita, rapper who was raised here.
- David S. Ware (born 1949), jazz saxophonist (b. 1949), birthplace
- Vic Washington, Former professional football player (b. 1946), birthplace.<ref>Six Individuals, One Team Inducted into the 13th Hall of Fame Class, University of Wyoming, February 19, 2005. Accessed July 10, 2007. "Vic Washington. Hometown: Plainfield, N.J."</ref>
- James Edward Maceo West (born 1941), co-inventor of the foil electret microphone and member of the National Inventors Hall of Fame
- Harrison A. Williams (1919-2001), birthplace.<ref>Harrison Arlington Williams, Jr., Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Accessed July 10, 2008.</ref>
- Jay Williams (born 1981), childhood home (He went to private school, but resided in Plainfield)
- Malinda Williams (born 1975), childhood home
- Bernie Worrell (born 1944), childhood home.<ref>"The best keyboardist you've never heard of", St. Petersburg Times, June 28, 2002.</ref>
- James A. Yorke (born 1941), childhood home
- Montell Owens, professional football players for the Jacksonville Jaguars
- Eugene Monroe, Born and raised in Plainfield. Attended the University of Virginia and projected top 5 pick in the 2009 NFL Draft.
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