History · Franklin

Franklin’s history is mostly unwritten

The public archives hold no old photos of Franklin yet. The rest are in attics, shoeboxes and the historical society. Help start the collection.

0old photos & papers

1historic places

1famous people

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What stands out about Franklin’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Franklin are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Old housesHalf of Franklin’s homes were built before 1954.

★ What stands out · Help out

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The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Franklin’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

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0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

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The story

How Franklin came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Franklin.

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Franklin (formerly Franklin Centre) was populated in the late 1830s by farmers like Alexander Cruickshank and German immigrants Henry and Jacob Abel. The first schoolhouse would be built on the Cruickshank farm in 1839. The town was laid out on March 21, 1840, by James L. Scott and Samuel C. Reed. They intended the town to be the county seat of Lee County, though never served as such. The city's namesake is Benjamin Franklin. In 1841 John Gandy and Jesse H. Catting were elected to be justices of the peace. In 1842 the first church in Franklin was constructed by the Methodists. Franklin’s growth was aided due to being positioned on the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

By decade

Franklin, decade by decade

Today3 recent

2021FranklinIowaPopPlot

2008Franklin iowa

2004IAMap-doton-Franklin

On the National Register

1 historic place in Franklin

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1996

Christian and Katharina Herschler House, Barn a…

in Iowa

#186

by listings

Districts

Architectural styles listings

Mid-19th Century1

All 1 listings

Christian and Katharina Herschler House, Barn and Outbuildings Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 1996

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

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From Wikimedia Commons (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia and Wikidata for famous people. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.