The Franklin post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Franklin Furnace (1838), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
First census: 4,075 in 19202020 census: 4,912113 years
How historic is Franklin?
C
More historic than 35% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.
Founding year: the first Franklin post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).
History grade
What drives Franklin’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Franklin is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #381 of 468 in New Jersey. Its share of homes from before 1940 holds the grade up; its age pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Franklin’s overall grade.
New Jersey towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical New Jersey town has 3.7 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Franklin’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (12% of New Jersey towns have fewer) while its 0 listings outnumber those of 23% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from D− to B. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±9.6 points). The founding year is the first post office, not a stated founding date.
Founding year: the first post office (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →
What stands out about Franklin’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1888Franklin sheet · 1:62,500
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Franklin.
The story so far
Franklin, in brief
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Franklin yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Franklin is a borough in Sussex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 4,912, a decrease of 133 (−2.6%) from the 2010 census count of 5,045, which in turn reflected a decline of 115 (−2.2%) from the 5,160 counted in the 2000 census. Franklin, known as the "Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World," is located over a rich ore body containing more than 150 minerals, many of them fluorescent and 25 of which are found nowhere else on earth. Settled in the 17th century, the village known as Franklin Furnace after Benjamin Franklin, developed near iron mines and iron smelting operations located along the Wallkill River. In the ea…
Its first post office opened in 1913. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 5,045 to 4,912 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Franklin in 1888
Passages that mention Franklin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
We began with service every Sabbath morning at the North Church, and preaching every Sabbath evening in the old school house at Franklin. On Sabbath afternoons I preached in the school houses at Harmony Vale, at New Prospect and Monroe- Corners. Our progress was very slow. AYe reported to Presbytery forty members in the spring of 1800, forty-two in 1807. and sixtyseven in 1808.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
with much less consumption of fuel. The ore was formerly carted fifteen miles to the Clinton Furnace and ten miles further to Pompton, and. after railroad connections were formed, was sent as far as Scranton. The Franklin Iron Company constructed a branch from the Susquehanna Railroad, at Hamburg, to McAfee Taller, a distance of three miles, to connect the mine by rail with Franklin Furnace. The working has ceased for over ten years, and the branch to the mine now forms part of the Lehigh
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.
Timeline
Franklin, 1838 to 1922
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
The Franklin post office opened in 1913, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Franklin rank for history?
Franklin is more historic than 35% of U.S. towns, #381 of 468 in New Jersey. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.
How old are the homes in Franklin?
40% of Franklin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±9.6 points), against a typical 15% for a New Jersey town; the median home was built in 1955.
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).
From Wikimedia Commons (12), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System, Sanborn fire insurance maps (Library of Congress) and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
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