Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1852.The full story ↓
History grade
What drives Franklin Township’s History grade
On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Franklin Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #408 of 993 in Ohio. All 3 inputs are above most U.S. towns; its age ranks highest and its National Register listings lowest.
B+
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Franklin Township’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 Township’s 1.6 sits near the middle of its state (51% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 1 listings outnumber those of 51% of U.S. towns.
NoteThe founding year comes from Wikipedia alone; no second source gives 1796.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to B+. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±5.0 points).
Founding year: Wikipedia (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 Township’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds
Two other post offices opened and closed inside today’s town.
Earlville
1852–1906
Bradylake
1924–1967
18501940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
Brady LakeEarlvilleKent Mobile Home ParkTwin Lakes
Gone or out of use
Earlville Post Officepost office
1cemetery inside Franklin Township
Russell
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, 1906 to 1994
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1906Kent 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.
Timeline
Franklin Township, 1796 to 1973
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
Franklin was founded by General William C. Schenck, in 1796. The settlement was named for Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was incorporated in 1814, and became a city in 1951. One of the first four post offices in Warren County was established in Franklin in 1805. The first postmaster was John N.C. Schenck, brother of General Schenck. The Franklin Post Office still stands (in a different location), and is one of four sites in Franklin listed on the National Register of Historic Places, along with the Mackinaw Historic District.
Passages that mention Franklin Township, cut from the printed page as they were published.
History of Portage County, Ohio1885 · page 252Read the page →
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Campbell raised the first corn in Charlestown Township in 1805, having removed there from Deerfield, where he first settled. In 1806 John and George Haymaker sowed a small patch of corn on the bank of the Cuyahoga, in Franklin Township, and the next year built a grist-mill on that stream. Joel Baker put in a crop of corn and wheat on Lot 46, Shalersville Township, in 1806. Eber Abbott planted the first corn and wheat in Edinburg Township in 1811. In the spring of that year Elijah and Oliver Alford aud Ebenezer O. and Nathan Messenger cleared small pieces of ground in Windham
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Portage County, Ohio1885 · page 441Read the page →
Read the text
also Miss Orpha Curtiss, and a Miss Thayer. Up to about 1830 there was only one schoolhouse here, the one built in 1817, and one teacher. The growth of educational interests since that time is shown by the following statistics: Franklin Township Schools. — Pupils enrolled, 66 boys and 64 girls; 5 schoolhouses valued at $6,670; Revenue in 1884, $4,780.58; expenditures, $3,524.48.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Portage County, Ohio. Containing a history of the county, its townships, towns, villages, schools, churches, industries, etc1885Read the page →
Read the text
John Rhodunbangh, a citizen of Franklin Township, residing upon his farm about three miles from the village of Kent, in that township, and abont the ume distance from BaTenna, was foully murdered between 7 and 8 o'dook ou the night of October 24, 1865, while retorning luiine from Kent, and wittiin a littlp more than a mile from his homo. The spot chosen for the scene of the murder was upon the road loading from Ravenna to Hndson, passing between Lakes Brady and Pippin, at a point where the road runs parallel with the 0. A P. R. R. , and within a few rods of the Grossing of the latter with the
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
Franklin Township, decade by decade
2 decades in the archive, from the 1900s to the 1970s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.
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.
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.
In 1796, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Franklin Township’s post office opened in 1852, and the census of 1810 counted 202 people here.
How does Franklin Township rank for history?
Franklin Township is more historic than 72% of U.S. towns, #408 of 993 in Ohio. 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.
What is on the National Register in Franklin Township?
One place: the Arvin Olin House (listed 1995).
How old are the homes in Franklin Township?
16% of Franklin Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±5.0 points), against a typical 15% for an Ohio town; the median home was built in 1973.
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 (6), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, 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 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.
1908
1973
1973
2005