Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1805.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 83% of U.S. towns, #266 of 993 in Ohio. Its National Register listings hold the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.
A−
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 49.7 sits above most of its state (88% of Ohio towns have fewer) while its 161 historic buildings outnumber those of 92% of U.S. towns.
How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B to A. The pre-1940 share (±2.9 points) is firm at this size. Two sources give 1796.
Founding year: Wikidata (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.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1908Miamisburg 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.
The History of Warren County, Ohio1882 · page 531Read the page →
Read the text
In the Ohio Argus and Franklin Gazette , of September 9, 1837, we find the following notice: The members of the Christian Church of Franklin Township, are requested to meet in the Union Meeting House, in said township, on the Saturday previous to the second Sunday in October next, to take into consideration the propriety of relinquishing the further use and occupancy of the Lots No. 39 and 41, in the town of Franklin, and the meeting house thereon.
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
The History of Warren County, Ohio1882 · page 598Read the page →
Read the text
their ancestors. But the probabilities are that settlements were made in several different parts of the township at about the same time. In 1795, Abner Crane came from Essex County, N. J., with his mother, brothers and sisters and settled in Butler County. He bought a tract of land in Franklin Township, Warren County, near where Red Lion now stands, and moved on it. One day while out hunting, he discovered a fine spring of pure water, where his son, Samuel R.
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 Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Franklin Township’s post office opened in 1805, and the census of 1810 counted 202 people here.
How does Franklin Township rank for history?
Franklin Township is more historic than 83% of U.S. towns, #266 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?
5 listings: 1 building, among them the Daniel L. Deardoff House (listed 1984, the first). 161 historic buildings in all.
How old are the homes in Franklin Township?
10% of Franklin Township’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±2.9 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 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