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History · Franklin Township

53% of Franklin Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1889 on.

0on the National Register
53%homes built before 1940
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What stands out about Franklin Township’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 Township are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18894 editions of the USGS map, 1889 to 1983. Watch Franklin Township change.Old housesHalf of Franklin Township’s homes were built before 1938.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Franklin Township’s collection

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

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Franklin Township on the map, 1889 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Franklin Township on the 1889 USGS mapFranklin Township on the 1894 USGS mapFranklin Township on the 1966 USGS mapFranklin Township on the 1983 USGS map1889Marysville sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Franklin Township.

The story

How Franklin Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Franklin Township.

Read it all →

Franklin began as a mining community in the early 1900s. It is located just off Highway 69 Bypass which is a major corridor between Kansas City and Pittsburg, Ks./Joplin, Mo. Franklin was a shipping point on the Joplin & Pittsburg electric railroad. The first post office in Franklin was established in 1908.

On May 4, 2003, a high-end F4 tornado ripped through Franklin, the path reached over 0.5 miles (0.80 km) wide at points. Franklin was all but destroyed, the U.S. Post Office, community center, and approximately 1/3 of family homes were destroyed. Four deaths and approximately 20 injuries were reported.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Franklin Township, 1889 to 1899

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1889On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  3. 1898Post officeThe Spence post office opens
  4. 1899Post officeThe Spence post office closes
By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Spence, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Spence
Gone or out of use
Wasseman Farms Airportairport
1cemetery inside Franklin Township
Prall

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Independence TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townCharleston TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townHighland TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Franklin Township’s history

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.