Photo: Doug Kerr from Albany, NY, United States · CC BY-SA 2.0
Quick answers
How Franklin began
When was Franklin founded?
1823
The Franklin post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name. Three smaller post offices, Huntsburg (1802), East Franklin (1850) and Morses Line (1892), opened inside today’s town and later closed.
2020 census: 1,363203 years
How historic is Franklin?
B
More historic than 58% 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 58% of U.S. towns. Its age holds the grade up; its National Register listings pull it down.
B
HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Franklin’s overall grade.
Vermont towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Vermont town has 147 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Franklin’s 0.0 sits below most of its state (5% of Vermont 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 C to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±6.2 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.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
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 town in Franklin County, Vermont, United States. The population was 1,363 at the 2020 census. The original name was "Huntsburgh", but the name was changed to "Franklin" in 1817.
Its first post office opened in 1823. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 1,405 to 1,363 (-3%).
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
From the old history books
What they wrote about Franklin, 1891–1907
Passages that mention Franklin, cut from the printed page as they were published.
In 1878 he represented the town of Franklin in the Legislature and in 1886 was a senator from Franklin County. He held the office of judge-advocate general of Vermont under Governors Barstow and Piugree, from 1882 to 1886. He has kept the ancestral farm and main-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont1891 · page 218Read the page →
Read the text
In 1792, when Franklin county was erected, and in 1802, when Grand Isle was likewise created, the local judiciary comprised one chief judge and two assistants; and inasmuch as Grand Isle county was mainly a part of Franklin prior to its separate erection, the general statement that the judges whose jurisdiction extended throughout Franklin also included Grand Isle may be treated as substantially correct. The organization of the courts of Franklin county was completed in 1796, the year after that in which the county itself was fully organized. The first court was held
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
East Franklin contains a church, store, post office and l)lacksmith shop, also the only telegraph office in town. The town has no railroad stations, although the Center is distant only four miles from North Sheldon, and South Franklin station is near the
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
History of Franklin and Grand Isle counties, Vermont1891 · page 111Read the page →
Read the text
Franklin was granted October 24, 1787, and chartered March 19, 1789, to Jonathan Hunt and five others, under the name of Huntsburgh, and so called in honor of its chief proprietor, but which was changed to Franklin, in pursuance of an act of the Legislature passed October 25, 18 17. Organized 1792.
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, 1802 to 1957
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
The Franklin post office opened in 1823, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
How does Franklin rank for history?
Franklin is more historic than 58% 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?
22% of Franklin’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±6.2 points), against a typical 22% for a Vermont town; the median home was built in 1983.
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), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.
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