Most of Franklin Furnace was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1977. Below: maps from 1926 on and old-book passages.
Founding year: the first Franklin Furnace post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Franklin Furnace’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Franklin Furnace is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
C
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Franklin Furnace’s overall grade.
Ohio towns list about as much on the Register as the country (a typical Ohio town has 2.9 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Franklin Furnace’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (23% of Ohio 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 C+. The pre-1940 share (±2.1 points) is firm at this size. 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 Furnace’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Franklin Furnace was the name of an early iron ore blast furnace built in eastern Scioto County in 1826. The community which grew in the area is named after the furnace. Its name ultimately is derived from Benjamin Franklin. It is located within the land that was the French Grant by Congress in 1795 to a group of French colonists were defrauded by the Scioto Company. A post office called Franklin Furnace has been in operation since 1828.
Passages that mention Franklin Furnace, cut from the printed page as they were published.
history of scioto county, ohio, together with a pioneer record of southern ohio1903 · page 1012Read the page →
Read the text
was given charge of the machinery in the concentrator of a mining plant near Gregory. After eighteen months of mining experience, he came back home and learned telegraphy. He was employed by the Norfolk & Western Railway Company as agent at Franklin Furnace until 1901, when he resigned his position to turn his attention to a mercantile business which he had been carrying on for some years as a side line, and which had grown so as to demand his undivided attention. His store at Franklin Furnace burned in 1898, causing a loss of $2,000, but he rebuilt immediately and now handles a large line of gen-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
history of scioto county, ohio, together with a pioneer record of southern ohio1903 · page 373Read the page →
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The Lamb or Franklin Furnace Cemetery, is located about one and one half miles north of Franklin Furnace on the Portsmouth Turnpike, and it contains two acres, only, one of which is fenced in. The Township purchased this cemetery from Horace and Ira Lamb in 1875. It was originally a private burial ground.
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.
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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin Furnace. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1926Greenup 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 Furnace.
Stories next door
History across the town line
Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.
The Franklin Furnace post office opened in 1828, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Franklin Furnace rank for history?
Franklin Furnace is more historic than 26% of U.S. towns. 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 Furnace?
0.0% of Franklin Furnace’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.1 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1977.
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 Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps 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.
