Franklin, Tennessee

Franklin is a city in and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About 21 miles (34 km) south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,454. It is the seventh-most populous city in Tennessee.

The city developed on both sides of the Harpeth River, a tributary of the Cumberland River. In the 19th century, Franklin (as the county seat) was the trading and judicial center for primarily rural Williamson County and remained so well into the 20th century as the county remained rural and agricultural in nature.

Since 1980, areas of northern Franklin have been developed for residential and related businesses, in addition to modern service industries. The population has increased rapidly as growth moved in all directions from the core. Despite recent growth and development, Franklin is noted for its many older buildings and neighborhoods, which are protected by city ordinances.

History of Franklin

The area was home to seven Native American tribes.

The City of Franklin was founded October 26, 1799, by Abram Maury Jr. (1766–1825). Later a state senator, he is buried with his family in the current Founders Pointe neighborhood. Maury named the town after national founding father Benjamin Franklin.

Ewen Cameron built a log house in 1798, the first in the new settlement. Cameron was born February 23, 1768, in Bogallan, Ferintosh, Scotland. He emigrated to Virginia in 1785 and came to Tennessee shortly after it was admitted to the Union. Cameron died on February 28, 1846, after living 48 years in the same house. He and his second wife, Mary, were buried in the old City Cemetery.

This area is part of Middle Tennessee, and farmers prospered in the pre-Civil War years, with the cultivation of tobacco and hemp as commodity crops, and raising of livestock.

During the Civil War, Tennessee was occupied by Union troops from 1862. Franklin was the site of a major battle in the Franklin–Nashville Campaign. The Second Battle of Franklin was fought on November 30, 1864, resulting in almost 10,000 casualties (killed, wounded, captured, and missing). Forty-four buildings were temporarily converted to use as field hospitals. The Carter, Carnton, and the Lotz houses from this era are still standing and are among the city's numerous examples of period architecture.

After the Civil War, slavery was abolished and the franchise was extended to African-American men. Most joined the Republican Party, which had gained their freedom.

On July 6, 1867, a political rally of Union League African American Republicans in Franklin was disrupted by Conservatives, who were mostly White but included some Blacks. Later that evening, what became known as the "Franklin Riot" broke out. Black Union League men were ambushed by Whites at the town square and returned fire. An estimated 25 to 39 men were wounded, most of them Black. One White man was killed outright, and at least three Black people died of wounds soon after the confrontation.

On August 15, 1868, in Franklin, Samuel Bierfield became the first Jewish man to be lynched in the United States. He was fatally shot by a large group of masked men believed to be Ku Klux Klan (KKK) members. They attacked him for treating Blacks equally to Whites in his store. Lawerence Bowman, a Black man who worked for Bierfield and was with him at his store, was fatally wounded in the attack and soon died.

After the Reconstruction era, white violence continued against African Americans, as the minority struggled to retain dominance. Violence increased toward the turn of the century, and whites used intimidation and attacks to keep Blacks away from voting.

Five African Americans were lynched in Williamson County from 1877 to 1950, most during the decades around the turn of the century. It was a time of high social tensions and legal racial oppression in the South. These murders took place in Franklin, when men were taken from the courthouse or county jail by mobs before trial.

Among them was Amos Miller, a 23-year-old Black man who was forcibly taken from the courtroom by a White mob during his 1888 trial in a sexual assault case. He was hanged from the railings of the balcony of the county courthouse. The alleged victim was a 50-year-old woman. On April 30, 1891, Jim Taylor, another African-American man, was lynched on Murfreesboro Road in Franklin by another mob, accused of killing a White man.

A memorial to Confederate soldiers was erected in 1899 by fourteen women of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to honor Confederate soldiers, including the 6,125 casualties of the Battle of Franklin. A news report described how as the last piece of the statue was being raised, a buggy ran into a rope, causing the statue to swing into the shaft, breaking out a piece from the hat of the figure. This event resulted in many nicknaming the monument as "Chip".

Population growth slowed noticeably from 1910 to 1940 (see table in Demographics section), as many African Americans left the area in the Great Migration to northern industrial cities for jobs and to escape Jim Crow conditions.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 41.4 square miles (107.3 km2), of which 41.2 square miles (106.8 km2) is land and 0.2 square miles (0.6 km2), or 0.52%, is covered by water.

Arts & culture

Some scenes from the 1986 Orion Pictures movie At Close Range, starring Sean Penn, Christopher Walken, and Kiefer Sutherland, was filmed in downtown Franklin.

The ABC television show Nashville (2012) filmed many concert show segments at the Franklin Theatre.

Canadian singer Justin Bieber filmed the 2011 video for his song "Mistletoe" in Downtown Franklin.

The 2015 Town Square Pictures movie The Secret Handshake, starring Kevin Sorbo, Amy Grant, and Mark Collie, was filmed in Franklin's Cottonwood subdivision.

The 2017 EchoLight Studios movie Sweet Sweet Summertime, starring David DeLuise, Markie Post, and Jaci Velasquez, was filmed in Franklin.

Economy

Franklin is home to health-care-related businesses such as Community Health Systems, Acadia Healthcare, Iasis Healthcare, Tivity Health, Home Instead Senior Care, MedSolutions Inc, and Renal Advantage Inc.

Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, Clarcor, CKE Restaurants, Jackson National Life, Triangle Tyre Company, Provident Music Group, World Christian Broadcasting, Mars Petcare, Franklin American Mortgage, Kaiser Aluminum, Lee Company, Ramsey Solutions, Video Gaming Technologies, and Atmos Energy also have corporate or regional headquarters in Franklin.

In-N-Out Burger will open a hub and distribution center in Franklin by 2026; a privately-held company with its roots in the west, it will be their easternmost expansion. The company's hub will involve a $125.5 million investment.

According to the city's 2024 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city were:

Parks & recreation

Aspen Grove Park

Bicentennial Park

Carter's Hill Park

Collins Farm

Del Rio Park

Eastern Flank Battlefield Park

Fieldstone Park

Fort Granger

Liberty Park

The Park at Harlinsdale Farm

Pinkerton Park

Jim Warren Park

Winstead Hill

New Southeastern Park Complex

Education

For grades K–8, most of the city is served by the Franklin Special School District; high school students attend Williamson County School District. Outerlying portions of the city are in the Williamson County district for grades K–12.

Franklin's private schools include Battle Ground Academy, Franklin Classical School, Franklin Christian Academy, Montessori School of Franklin, New Hope Academy and Thales Academy.

Belmont University, Williamson Center campus

Columbia State Community College, Franklin campus. This satellite campus of Columbia State was opened in 2016 after being constructed for this purpose. It is a two-year college, serving a nine-county area in Middle Tennessee

Lipscomb University, a SPARK satellite campus, is here

New College Franklin, a small private Christian liberal-arts college is based in Franklin.

Williamson College