The Town of Franklin was laid out near the Harpeth River on a 640-acre plot of land owned by Abram Maury Franklin City Cemetery was established, providing a final resting place for early citizens. Franklin is established as a City. Carnton is constructed by Randal McGavock, the former Mayor of Nashville. (Source: Nashville Public Library) The County Courthouse was constructed later that year as a log structure in the center of the Square. The Town of Franklin occupied one square mile of land. In the early nineteenth century, two significant roads were built through the county. In 1801, the federal government built a 500-mile post road, known as the Natchez Trace, from Nashville to Natchez on the Mississippi River. U.S. Army troops widened the trace, which featured houses of accommodation and ferries along the route. Use of the road declined in the 1820s. From 1816–1820, the federal government constructed the National Military Road which provided a more direct route from Nashville to New Orleans. The 516-mile route was intended to aid economic development and movement of military troops. Named “Jackson’s Military Road” in honor of General Andrew Jackson, the road cut through Choctaw Indian Territory in Alabama and Mississippi. Jackson’s Military Road declined in the 1840s due to disrepair and difficulty keeping it passable through the swamps in Mississippi. The route later became part of the Jackson Highway in the early twentieth century. In 1806, Williamson County began to construct a new public courthouse to replace the log structure, to be “built of good well burnt brick”, on a “good stone foundation”, with a “complete pair of stairs to be run from the lower to the upper floor”. The courthouse was constructed in the center of the Public Square and was a two-story building with a frame cupola housing a bell. In 1811, Franklin City Cemetery was established, providing a final resting place for early citizens. In 1815, Franklin received its Charter from the state legislature, establishing it as a City. In 1823, the Hiram Lodge No. 7 was completed and became the first three-story building in the state and the tallest building west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1825, the Franklin Cotton Factory opened near the Harpeth River. Carnton is constructed in 1826 by Randal McGavock, former Mayor of Nashville. The first three-story building in the state and the tallest building west of the Allegheny Mountains Hiram Lodge No. 7 1800 1811 1815 1823 1826 43
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