In 1836, an association from Rochester, New York, purchased land here, and by winter several families had settled in newly built log homes. Methodist circuit riders organized a class in 1837 that became the center of the three-county Mapleton circuit. In 1841, the settlement was renamed Duplain, and the colonists began working for better schools and roads. In the mid-1850s, the Duplain Methodist church was built as a center for community worship.