3 Historic Preservation Plan City of Franklin: A Rich and Deep History For a community relatively small in size, Franklin has a remarkable history of local, state, and national significance. Franklin is located in Williamson County in Middle Tennessee approximately fifteen miles south of Nashville. The Town of Franklin was established by Act of the Tennessee legislature on October 26,1799 and later incorporated in 1815. Abram Maury laid out Franklin, the County seat of Williamson County, using a grid system around a public square. Franklin was named after American Patriot Benjamin Franklin, a close friend of Dr. Hugh Williamson, a member of the Continental Congress for whom Williamson County was named. Many of the historic homes in Franklin and the surrounding countryside were built in the decades preceding the Civil War, during a time of agricultural prosperity. The town’s first subdivision, Hincheyville, was named after Hinchey Petway, a wealthy merchant living in Alabama who purchased the land for the purpose of forming a subdivision and reselling it as town lots in 1819. Although the ninety-acre subdivision, located between 5th and 11th Streets and Main and Fair Streets has existed since 1819, most construction took place in the latter half of the 19th century. Today there remains a wealth of gingerbread porches, gabled roofs and a mixture of styles all demonstrating the eclecticism of the neighborhood. The Town of Franklin is known for a number of firsts in Tennessee history. Williamson County’s first courthouse was a log building built in 1800 in the center of Franklin, replaced nine years later by a brick structure. The third courthouse, completed in 1858, is one of seven remaining antebellum courthouses in Tennessee. It was used as the Federal headquarters during the Civil War and as a hospital after the Battle of Franklin. In 1823 construction began on the first Masonic Lodge in Tennessee. The Gothic style temple was built using funds from the first legal lottery in Tennessee history. The Lodge was the first three-story building in the State and the tallest building west of the Allegheny Mountains. In 1827, Bishop James H. Otey organized the St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in the Lodge. St. Paul’s the first Protestant Episcopal Church in Tennessee, moved to its own building on Main Street in 1831, the oldest Episcopal church in continual use west of the Appalachians. The Civil War put Franklin in the middle of conflict. After the fall of Nashville in early 1862, Franklin became a Federal military post. During the late summer of 1864, the Confederate forces mounted a great drive. Under the command of General John Bell Hood, the Army of Tennessee moved up through Georgia and Alabama, crossed the Tennessee River, and then entered Tennessee. The November 30, 1864 Battle of Franklin, located on the banks of the Harpeth River, has been called both “the Gettysburg of the West” and “the bloodiest hours of the American Civil War.” Franklin was one of the few night battles in the Civil War. It also took place on one of the smallest battlefields, a mere 2 miles long and 1½ miles wide. The main battle lasted about five hours, during which Federal forces lost 2,500 casualties and the Confederates lost
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