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History · Franklin Township

16% of Franklin Township’s homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1903 on.

0on the National Register
16%homes built before 1940
Add an old photoShare a memory
Photo: Nyttend · Public domain

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.Lost villages3 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Franklin Township, and 2 old place names are still on the map.On the map since 19035 editions of the USGS map, 1903 to 2002. Watch Franklin Township change.
★ 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.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
Places that used to be

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

Three other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.

Sprague
1873–1905
Swazey
1881–1906
Jerles
1884–1905
18701950today
Hamlets and corners on the map
JerlesSwazey
Gone or out of use
Jerles Post Officepost officeSprague Post Officepost officeSwazey Post Officepost office
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Franklin Township
Hines ChapelSoutherland MethodistSwazey Methodist

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

On the map

Franklin Township on the map, 1903 to 2002

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 1903 USGS mapFranklin Township on the 1961 USGS mapFranklin Township on the 1976 USGS mapFranklin Township on the 1994 USGS mapFranklin Township on the 2002 USGS map1903Macksburg 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 Township.

The story so far

Franklin Township, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Franklin Township yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Franklin Township is one of the eighteen townships of Monroe County, Ohio, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 378, including 71 people in the village of Stafford.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 427 to 378 (-11%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

Timeline

Franklin Township, 1873 to 1906

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1873Post officeThe Sprague post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Swazey post office opens
  4. 1884Post officeThe Jerles post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1903On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  7. 1905Post officeThe Sprague post office closes
  8. 1905Post officeThe Jerles post office closes
  9. 1906Post officeThe Swazey post office closes
By decade

Franklin Township, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Franklin Township farmstead on 782016Franklin Township farmstead on 78Map of Monroe County Ohio Highlighting2015Map of Monroe County Ohio HighlightingMap
Famous people

Famous people close to Franklin Township

Nobody well known was born in Franklin Township itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Melvin Clark GeorgeAmerican politician · b. 1849
Charles DorrAmerican politician · b. 1852
William Gladstone SteelCrater Lake promoter and mail carrier · b. 1854
D
Dick WehrAmerican basketball player and coach · b. 1925
Sad Sam JonesAmerican baseball player · b. 1892
Sophie Naylor GrubbAmerican activist, writer · b. 1834
Stories next door

History across the town line

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

Summit TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townBethel TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townElk Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWayne TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townStock TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townWashington Township1 historic placenot 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 Wikimedia Commons (2), 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.