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    Franklin County
    Franklin County
    Franklin County
    Ebook199 pages1 hour

    Franklin County

    By Diane Taylor Torrent

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    About this ebook

    Franklin County is situated in the northeastern Piedmont region of North Carolina. Known for its fruitful soil, rolling hills, and bountiful streams, it has a rich agricultural heritage. Franklin County was created in 1779, with its founders honoring statesman Benjamin Franklin as the county’s namesake. Built along the Tar River, Louisburg, the county seat, has an impressive historic district lined with majestic homes and churches from the turn of the 20th century. Steeped in education, Franklin County is home to Louisburg College, which was established in 1787, and once boasted as many as 100 one-room schoolhouses. Franklin County showcases the architectural heritage, long-standing communities, and citizens who have lived and worked here.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateOct 13, 2014
    ISBN9781439647721
    Franklin County

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      Franklin County - Diane Taylor Torrent

      were.

      INTRODUCTION

      On January 20, 1779, the North Carolina General Assembly met in Halifax and approved an act to divide Bute County into Warren and Franklin Counties. John Norwood, Matthew Thomas, and Joseph Norris were named to locate and purchase a central location for a county seat. Book one, page one of Franklin County Deeds describes the 100 acres of land chosen along the Tar River. The land was purchased from Patewills and Jacobina Milner for $1,000 current money, and commissioners Osborn Jeffreys, William Green, William Hill, William Brickell, and John Hunt were appointed to lay off the land in lots, which were awarded through a lottery. Though records reflect the presence of settlers in this area of the Piedmont long before this act, this day in 1779 marks the birth of Franklin County.

      The county seat of Louisburg sprung from the original 100 acres. At the dawn of the 1800s, the town was a thriving trade route. Stores, mills, and at least 20 houses were in place by 1810, and the stagecoach was making three stops weekly. The Franklin Male Academy was under the direction of Matthew Dickinson by 1805. It was soon followed by the Louisburg Female Academy. The 1835 discovery of gold on John Portis’s land brought growth to the Wood community, with a rush of settlers and prospectors. Franklinton grew around the Raleigh-Gaston Railroad and incorporated into a town in 1842.

      By 1850, the Franklin County Courthouse was completed, and the census recorded Franklin County citizens engaged in the everyday business of merchants, hotel keepers, wheelwrights, carpenters, stonecutters, blacksmiths, tailors, barbers, coach makers, physicians, teachers, and gunsmiths. The 1860 census gave the population at around 14,000, over half of which were slaves.

      The Civil War took its toll on Franklin County families, as 1,400 men went to war and 1,000 returned. The county was spared the physical devastation of the war, but Louisburg College’s grounds were subjected to an occupation by Union soldiers from May through July 1865.

      The South’s reconstruction had begun, and the 1870s saw industrial growth along Sandy Creek, as Col. Jordan Jones began operating a gristmill at Laurel. Louisburg’s Edwin Wiley Fuller published his novel Sea Gift in 1871, and production of newspapers, suspended during the war, resumed when J.A. Thomas purchased what would become the Franklin Times in 1875. That same year, on March 17, the post office and railroad stop at Pacific were incorporated into the town of Youngsville.

      The county celebrated its centennial in 1879, attracting the largest assembly of citizens to date to the Franklin Academy’s grove. A parade, speeches, bands, and a picnic all culminated in a grand ball. In Franklinton, Dr. Moses Hopkins founded Albion Academy during the centennial year, marking an educational milestone as the first colored school in the county.

      The county’s population had risen to over 20,000 by 1880, and tobacco markets in Louisburg and Youngsville were prospering. Louisburg’s market expanded when the 10-mile track of railroad to Franklinton was completed, making travel for business and pleasure easily accessible. The Franklinton railroad also contributed to the success of the Sterling Cotton Mill, built by Samuel C. Vann in 1895, providing employment and mill housing.

      The new century brought modern conveniences, with telephone services connecting Louisburg, Centerville, Franklinton, and Youngsville. Water and sewer lines were in by 1905, and in 1906, Dr. R.F. Yarborough drove the first automobile into the county. A new town was added when the railroad stop at Bunn was incorporated in 1913.

      In 1914, the United Daughters of the Confederacy dedicated a monument to Franklin County’s fallen Civil War soldiers. The keynote speaker was county native Thomas W. Bickett, who became governor of North Carolina in 1917. Governor Bickett’s administration saw the state through the dark years of World War I, when Franklin County lost 36 of its sons to the cause.

      The 1920s saw an increase in education under the supervision of Edward L. Best, with the addition of schools in Cedar Rock and Franklinton. Electricity was introduced to rural communities, and roadway-paving projects were under way. Postwar prosperity brought consumer goods back to the populace, and the economy once again began to thrive. The mid-1920s saw Billy T. Person become the first of many airplane owners in the county. The county’s first pilot, Louisburg’s William Winston, taught Charles Lindbergh as an Army instructor in 1925.

      Thousands attended the July 4, 1929, sesquicentennial ceremonies to proudly celebrate the past 150 years. The stock market crash was just around the corner, but optimism was high as the Roaring Twenties wound down. However, by the 1930 census, Franklin County’s nearly 30,000 residents were in the grip of the Depression. As businesses closed and banks failed, a new form of entertainment offered an affordable distraction when talking pictures came to Louisburg in 1929 and Franklinton in 1930. Also increasing morale was the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, which resulted in the legalization of the sale of spirits in Louisburg and Franklinton in 1936. Renovation of the courthouse began in 1936, providing much needed employment, and the rededication in 1937 was attended by hundreds.

      The war years of the 1940s saw Franklin County lose Bunn’s Malcolm Leigh in the attack on Pearl Harbor, as well as another 51 locals before the surrender of Japan. The remainder of the 1940s saw the county slowly recover, as rationing decreased and employment increased. In 1946, it was announced that roadwork was to begin on a bypass to downtown Louisburg, and Bickett Boulevard was born. Franklin Memorial Hospital opened its doors in 1951, and by the end of the 1950s, the county had its own radio station, WYRN. In 1955, a new drive-in theater opened outside of town, and growth along the new bypass included the Murphy House restaurant, Dick’s Drive-In, and full-service gas stations. The 1960s and 1970s showed an increase in activity, as more and more downtown businesses moved to the more spacious bypass. In 1977, Franklin County saw the golden arches of the McDonald’s chain rise on Bickett Boulevard, which would become just one of many fast food restaurants, chain stores, and mega-marts marking

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