Learn more about important events in Franklin history.
During the Civil War (1861-1865), 218 Franklin residents fought on the side of the Union. Some residents joined military regiments in Rhode Island and Connecticut. Others joined the navy and were involved with the blockade of Confederate ports in the South. A research project that focused on 140 of them was done in the early 2000’s. Franklin produced crops (mainly cranberries) and manufactured goods for the war effort. After the war ended, local resident James Mason filed the first patent for a coffee percolator in 1865.
Universalists in New England wanted to build an academy in Massachusetts and set up a committee in 1864 to explore feasible options. Oliver Dean, one of the richest men in town, offered the committee $60,000 and nine acres to build a school in Franklin, which was approved and initiated in 1865 as Dean Academy. Interestingly, Franklin was originally considered a location for a Universalist college, however that distinction went to Medford, Mass. and what would become Tufts University.
On Oct 18th, 1869, the town of Norfolk was founded. It was comprised of areas of Wrentham, Franklin (City Mills), Medway, and Walpole. The loss of City Mills was a serious financial/economic hit for Franklin as it was a major source of revenue and was also home to the local post office.
During the 1870’s industrialization came to Franklin. This came in the form of textile mills, dam building, and the expansion of railroads. Local carpenters worked six-day weeks, building rowboats for sale on the coast. The most lucrative industry in Franklin was the straw-hat factory. Several fraternal organizations came to Franklin during this time, including the International Order of Odd Fellows (I.O.O.F) and the Freemasons (both 1878).
In 1873, the Universalists abandoned their original church and built Grace Church on the site of today's Green Family Library Learning Commons at Dean.
On June 12th, 1878, Franklin celebrated its centennial. The preparations took two years of planning and cost $500 (approx. $15,740 in 2025). The town’s first museum opened and exhibited bibles, books, sermons, an hourglass, and china sets. Revered Mortimer Blake did extensive research on Franklin and wrote A History of Franklin, Mass.; From its Settlement to the Completion of its First Century . A parade was held, which involved the fire department, school children, and the Grand Army of the Republic (an organization for veterans of the Civil War). Blake gave an hour and twenty-minute speech about Franklin’s history. A Centennial supper was held in the common, serving 1,200 people.
During the 1880’s the economic boom continued. The Ray Family stayed incredibly wealthy. Members built railroads and even started a sugar beet business. In 1886, special officer Aaron Morse was hired by Franklin to crackdown on illegal drinking business in the town. The local militia grew with more units and more men. Fraternal groups (I.O.O.F and American Grange) continued to grow in town. Franklin received four feet of snow during the Great Blizzard of 1888. Later in the same year, a panoramic map (a detailed aerial map) of Franklin was made. In 1889, Dean Cooperative Bank opened, giving out business loans to residents. Not much occurred in the 1890’s. Franklin’s population stayed small, and the local industries moved more into the textile business. There was a mini gold rush in 1898 that quickly burned itself out. Local housewife, E.P. Blackmer, had discovered the gold vein fifteen years earlier and kept a secret from everyone. Eventually word got out and dozens of residents and outsiders came to Franklin to make their fortune.
1890s - 1900s City Mills
The 1900’s was a time of new construction projects in the downtown area. A bronze plaque featuring the text of the Gettysburg Address was created and placed on a boulder at the Town Common.
The Masonry Gazebo was erected in 1903 in the Town Common. Trolleys were installed around town and were used extensively by Franklin residents.
Between 1901 and 1904, a new Franklin Library was built (the Ray Memorial Library). The Ray family funded this project and many others like it. Famed Italian artist, Tommaso Juglaris was hired to paint several friezes inspired by Greek mythology. A frieze is a broad horizontal band of sculpted or painted decoration, typically found on a wall. Boston artist, H. H. Gallison also contributed paintings in the building.
On Jan 17th, 1906, Franklin celebrated the bicentennial of Ben Franklin’s birthday with speeches, xylophone solos, and the reading of a poem about Franklin’s life. President Theodore Roosevelt ordered the creation of a medallion commemorating Franklin’s birthday. The medallion was put on display in Franklin Public Library.
In 1907 Franklin experienced an invasion of gypsy moths which destroyed many trees. In 1908 the town replaced gas streetlights with streetlights powered by electricity. When the Great War (World War I)broke out, the local paper barely mentioned it but, ultimately, eight Franklin men died in the war.
In 1917, while the war in Europe raged, Edward Wilder gave a report on sanitation in Franklin. He recommended a town-wide sewer system, noted pollution of local rivers and ponds, proposed the creation of a town dump, and commented on farming sanitation. He was also given a tour of Hayward Mill and detailed working conditions. His report gives an interesting impression of regular life in Franklin during the late 1910’s.
Franklin was hit hard by rationing during America’s involvement in WWI (1917-18), especially during the harsh New England winters. Extreme cold killed several residents. Many business and public services had to cut their hours due to a severe coal shortage. Food scarcity was also high, and Franklin wives were instructed to be hyper vigilant about saving leftovers and scraps. To make matters worse, The Spanish Flu epidemic (1918) came to Franklin. The disease spread like wildfire across town. By Oct 25th of 1918, however, the epidemic burned itself out in Franklin.
On the evening of February 28, 1919, four anarchists (James Tarzin, Eustachio DeChellis, Silvario DeChellis, and Dominic Palumbo) attempted to bomb the Ray Mill on Union Street (today's Franklin Landings apartments). However, they accidentally blew themselves up in the process. The explosion was heard in towns as far away as Dedham and Norton.
Franklin did well after WWI and the Spanish Flu. Car ownership increased dramatically after the war. The Franklin Country Club became a stock company in the spring of 1921. The club sold certificates to possible new members. The funds from this endeavor were used to pay for a new clubhouse. The Club reopened on Memorial Day 1921 with golf tournaments, live music, and dance.
In 1928, Franklin celebrated its 150th anniversary over the course of three days. Some of the festivities included live bands, dancing, a parade, historical pageants, and speeches (including one by future Mass. Governor James Micheal Curley). The Universalist minister Reignold K. Marvin wrote “Song of our Franklin” (to the tune of “America the Beautiful”).
The population of Franklin stayed small. By 1928 there were only around 7,055 residents.
In 1929, the town added two monuments. The Horace Mann monument on May 4th and the Veteran Monument on November 11th, built in honor of Armistice Day (now Veteran’s Day).
Franklin struggled during the Great Depression like the rest of the country. There were several attempts to attract new companies and customers. One local man started the Nowland Aircraft Corporation which built two-seater planes. Plans to build an aircraft plant in Franklin fell apart, however. In 1930, the airship Neponset came to Franklin. The airship took Franklin residents on half hour flights over town. This event was paid for by Simon and Son Furnishers to bring in customers. The Franklin Employment Plan was formed as a pledge drive to raise $50,000. Kids (and some adults) spent much of their free time looking for scrap metal to sell in landfills/dumps.
There was some excitement during the early thirties. Oliver Garrett (Boston Patrolman and infamous racketeer) hid from police in Franklin in a cottage on Lincoln Street. He later turned himself in to the police in Boston.
The Boston Post began sending out canes to the oldest resident in Massachusetts towns. Mr. Clark (ninety-years-old) received the Boston Post cane. It is now on display in Franklin History Museum.
In 1933, Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s New Deal programs came to Franklin. The federal government bought local land to build a new post office and gave Franklin an engineering grant to fight gypsy moths in local orchards. At least twenty men were hired for the removal job. A public pool was built on Ford’s Pond (this later closed in 1982). A 1000-acre game preserve was built in Forge Hill State Forest (now Franklin State Forest). The Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC), a work relief program created by FDR, also came to Franklin; 250 volunteers from around the country set up camp on Forge Hill and built new buildings in town.
Several desperate people committed crimes throughout the thirties. One man singlehandedly stole a 750-pound electric motor from an icehouse on Washington St. Another man sent a letter to the chief of police threatening to commit arson, kidnapping, and assassination unless he received $5,000. This crime was so strange the FBI was brought in to investigate. In another bizarre crime, Bellingham resident Lawrence Desjarlais stole an entire bridge on North Bellingham Road for scrap metal.
Franklin was hit hard by the Hurricane of ‘38, one of the worst hurricanes in New England history. The storm toppled the Dean Academy bell tower and destroyed the local Baptist Church.
The Great Depression slowly ended in the early years of the 1940’s and World War II came to dominate local life. In 1941 the Civilian Defense Committee was set up. The committee prepared for possible air raids and performed drills. They also trained teachers in civilian defense. By 1942, seventy-five volunteers worked as telephone operators at a report center, thirty-five residents worked as air raid wardens, and numerous people were involved with the Red Cross/emergency services. During a peacetime draft, 750 men sign up for selective service. Local schools’ students took classes to prepare for the war effort. Civics classes pushed American values, mathematic students enrolled in aeronautical engineering classes, metalworking students learned how to operate precision machine tools used to build aircrafts, and carpentry students made more than 120 model airplanes to train pilots in aircraft identification.
As happened during WWI, Franklin was again hit hard by rationing. There was a significant gasoline shortage that led to Franklin residents using bikes as the primary mode of transportation. In 1943, nearly 600 bikes were registered by townsfolk (the average was about 100 bikes a year).
By the end of WWII more than one thousand Franklin residents were in military service.
The economy picked up after the war. Several new businesses popped up, including Franklin Paint Co. and Franklin Sheet Metal. This rise in jobs helped put returning vets back to work. Interestingly, there was a failed attempt to build a General Motors plant in town.
During the Korean War (1950-53), not a single Franklin resident was killed. During this time, Congressman Joe Martin represented Franklin (along with Norfolk and Bristol County). Martin was an anti-communist and supported Joe McCarthy's anti-communist crusade until it threatened the administration of President Eisenhower. Martin served as Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 1940s and 1950s and was a big supported of Dean Academy and Junior College.
Joseph Martin, Jr., Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives
In 1955, Franklin was hit by Hurricane Diane, receiving nearly thirteen inches of rain. The town also experienced mass flooding and power outages. Luckly, no one was killed. Damage from the storm totaled tens of thousands of dollars.
Fears of a possible World War III led Franklin to maintain its Civil Defense group and draw up emergency evacuation plans. In 1962, due to the Cuban Missile Crisis, several Franklin residents started to build fallout shelters. Until the mid to late sixties, Franklin was still considered a farming town. Agriculture quickly died out after the construction of the I-495 superhighway in 1965. Originally, the historic Oliver Pond house was slated for demolition to make room for the highway. Franklin citizens rallied to save the house. Ironically, after its construction, I-495 was reportedly rarely used in the early years.
During the Vietnam War (1954-75), Franklin lost eight men in combat, most of them in 1968.
In 1967, Grace Church, which had been owned by local universalists, was sold to then Dean Junior College. It was torn down one year later, and the E. Ross Anderson campus library was built in its place.
In March of 1970, Honeywell (a major computer company) met with Franklin officials to propose a deal to open a computer plant in Franklin. The factory would be built on Sullivan Farm and be a quarter million square feet in size. This deal would lead to dozens of new jobs and create a fresh source of revenue for Franklin. The town prepared for the arrival of the plant by cleaning up the town and creating plans for a new municipal building. In the spirit of expansion, the Franklin Sentinel tried to cover national, local, and state events. Unfortunately, Honeywell pulled out of the deal at the last second.
In the early 1970’s, Franklin saw two sperate Vietnam War protests. In 1970, 200 Norfolk County residents marched from Wrentham to Foxboro Common. In 1971, Franklin students marched in the opposite direction (Franklin to Milford).
In 1970 there was an attempted skyjacking over Franklin airspace. On March 17th, around 7:30 pm, John DiVivo (a mentally ill New Yorker) stormed the cockpit of Eastern Air Lines Shuttle Flight 1320 with a .38 caliber revolver. In the struggle, copilot James Hartley was wounded and died from his injuries, becoming the first person in American history to die in a skyjacking attempt. Before he died, he managed to take DiVivo’s gun and shoot him three times. Pilot Robert Wilbur was shot in the arm but successfully landed the plane at Logan Airport. None of the sixty-eight passengers onboard were hurt. DiVivo was arrested and subsequently committed suicide while awaiting his trial.
Another unusual event in Franklin was the alleged terrorist training camp on Summer Street, the Armenian American Camp Haiastan. Volunteers of the Armenian Secret Army for the Liberation of Armenia, an international terrorist group, were (allegedly) trained to use explosives and submachine guns against the Turkish government.
During the seventies, environmentalism came to Franklin. There was a public outcry regarding the pollution and waste from local sewer systems. While cleaning out the sewer beds at Mine Brook, a department of public works employee nearly died from hepatitis after human waste got into an open cut on his hand. Franklin celebrated Earth Day 1971 by raking leaves on the common and removing garbage from Green’s Pond.
Students at Kennedy Elementary School petitioned Boston lawmakers to make ladybug the official state insect of Massachusetts after discovering the Commonwealth didn’t have one. They were successful in their efforts and were later invited to visit the state house dressed up like bugs for a televised meeting with the governor.
In September of 1977, Franklin teachers (supported by the Massachusetts Teachers Association) went on strike. Almost all 286 teachers participated. Because teachers are barred from striking in Massachusetts, the police and courts cracked down on the strikers. Thirty-four teachers were arrested in a single day and jailed. An additional one hundred more were arrested. The local School Committee and courts refuse to yield or negotiate. The remaining 180 teachers agreed to end the strike on Oct 1st, 1977. Ultimately, little changed for Franklin teachers, leaving some bitter. The strike was reported in states like Texas and Florida. The New York Times even authored an article about it.
In 1978, Franklin celebrated its bicentennial. Several time capsules were buried, and history teacher James Johnston wrote about the history of the town. Several companies helped with the planning and preparation. This included Nu Style (a jewelry company), Electorformex Lab, and McDermott (a law firm).
During the Blizzard of ‘78, Franklin had some of the heaviest snowfall in Massachusetts (54 inches).
During the 1980’s, not a lot of major events occurred, but under the leadership of principal Dorothy Swanbeck, Franklin High School (which had been in some turmoil) gained a reputation as one of the best regional high schools in MA.
In 1990, Franklin was declared an “edge city” by journalist Joel Garreau. An edge city features “concentrations of offices, warehouses, residential area, and shopping plazas away from traditional urban areas.” In other words, Franklin was going through a period of suburban sprawl.
Several Franklin High School students participated in Operation Desert Storm during the first Gulf War (1990-1991).
In the early nineties, Franklin experienced two unexpected and shocking crimes. In 1992, Mary Ann Seguin was found dead in Sudbury River. Her murdered children Daniel (age seven) and Amy (age five) were later found in a marsh near the shore of Beaver Pond after one of the largest police searches in Massachusetts history. Husband Kenneth Seguin immediately became the prime suspect in the murders and was convicted of murdering the family.
In 1993, Patrick Tyrell (of South Boston) was walking home one night when he got into a verbal altercation with Franklin teens. One of the teens, eighteen-year-old Stephen Daley beat Tyrell to death with a baseball bat. Daley was arrested and charged with first degree murder. In a bizarre twist, Mary Tyrell (wife of Patrick) later found a winning $20,000 scratch ticket in a book.
In 1995, ‘96, and ‘97, Franklin experienced three separate fires. First the Thayer House on the Dean College campus burned to the ground. The next year, the Tri County High School fire caused more than $1 million in damage. Finally in 1997, the 127-year-old Peirce House caught fire. Luckily, no one was killed in any of these events.
During the early 2000’s several Franklin High School graduates fought in Iraq and Afghanistan. Shayne M. Cabino joined the Marine Corps and was killed in action in the Iraq War in 2005. An annual motorcycle ride is held in his memory. Sergeant Robert Pirelli was also killed in Iraq in 2007. He received numerous awards and decorations.
The town was mostly spared by the 2008 great recession/fiscal crisis.
In 2010, the Franklin History Museum opened in its new downtown location on W. Central St.
