A history of Franklin,
since 1796
Postcards, papers and photographs of Franklin from public archives, woven together by decade. Neighbors fill in the gaps.
The story
from WikipediaRead it all ↗Franklin was founded by General William C. Schenck, in 1796. The settlement was named for Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was incorporated in 1814, and became a city in 1951. One of the first four post offices in Warren County was established in Franklin in 1805. The first postmaster was John N.C. Schenck, brother of General Schenck. The Franklin Post Office still stands (in a different location), and is one of four sites in Franklin listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the Mackinaw Historic District.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
Timeline
built from the dates on the items belowFinish Franklin’s story
Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.
2 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 🔁Retake an old viewRiver Scene at Chautauqua, 1908: stand where they stood+15 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Famous people from Franklin
See all 19 →
Franklin, decade by decade
1960s
1990s
Then & now
No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as River Scene at Chautauqua (1908) and it appears here side by side.
🔁 Retake this view · +15Stories next door
nearby towns’ historyFrom Wikimedia Commons (6). Images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.