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St. Lawrence Catholic ChurchSt. Lawrence Catholic Church · Photo: Jeff the quiet · CC0
–Not graded
History · Franklin

31% of Franklin’s homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 2 buildings. Below: maps from 1954 on.

1on the National Register
31%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory

What stands out about Franklin’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 are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.Lost villages4 post offices opened and closed inside today’s Franklin, and 3 old place names are still on the map.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Franklin’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Franklin’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

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

Boalt
1862–1866
Bolt
1887–1904
Curran
1890–1904
Stangelville
1890–1930
18601940today
Hamlets and corners on the map
BoltCurranStangelville
Gone or out of use
Beech Grove SchoolschoolCollegiate SchoolschoolWhittier SchoolschoolWoodland Schoolschool
3cemeteries and burying grounds inside Franklin
Bolt Bohemian TownshipFranklinSaint Lawrence Catholic

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 Kewaunee County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 964 at the 2020 census.

Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 993 to 964 (-3%).

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

Timeline

Franklin, 1862 to 1954

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

  1. 19th century
  2. 1862Post officeThe Boalt post office opens
  3. 1865Born hereJohn E. Cashman is born here
  4. 1866Post officeThe Boalt post office closes
  5. 1887Post officeThe Bolt post office opens
  6. 1890Post officeThe Curran post office opens
  7. 1892BuiltSt. Lawrence Catholic Church is built
  8. 20th century
  9. 1904Post officeThe Bolt post office closes
  10. 1904Post officeThe Curran post office closes
  11. 1954On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
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.
Add from your album
On the map

Franklin on the map, 1954 to 1978

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Franklin. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Franklin on the 1954 USGS mapFranklin on the 1978 USGS map1954Kewaunee 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.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Franklin

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1989
St. Lawrence Catholic Church
St. Lawrence Catholic Church, built 1892
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Gothic Revival1
American Foursquare1
St. Lawrence Catholic ChurchGothic Revival · Built 1892

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Stories next door

History across the town line

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

CarltonIts storyB−New DenmarkIts storyC+Montpelier1 historic placeA−GibsonIts storyB

Questions about Franklin’s history

What is on the National Register in Franklin?

One place: the St. Lawrence Catholic Church (listed 1989).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
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 Wikidata (1), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, 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.