The first non-native settlers in the area of Plain City arrived in October 1858. They were a Mormon group led by Lorin Farr and they were looking for fertile soil to establish a community and farms on. That first group made a positive decision, went back home for the winter and returned with their families in March 1859.

Plain City is most famous these days as having been the birthplace of CR England Trucking, a company founded in 1920 by Maude Knight and her husband, Chester Rodney England to haul local farmers produce to market in Ogden and Salt Lake City. A driver for CR England left them, moved to Phoenix and began the outfit that is now known as Swift Transportation in 1969. Jeff England, one of the grandsons of Chester Rodney England founded Pride Transport in Salt Lake City in 1979. Grandsons and great nephews of Maude Knight moved to Phoenix and drove for Swift before splitting off and founding Knight Transportation in 1990.