For its first hundred years, Franklin Springs was a famous health resort named, along with the county, for Benjamin Franklin. Three kinds of water flowed strongly from the springs: mineral, sulphur, and freestone. Before the Civil War, the area was a famous watering place, and into the 20th century it remained a gathering place for sick and invalid people seeking cures through its mineral water. Later, social life became more of an attraction than the healing waters, and by 1917 the site had two hotels, a skating rink, and two pavilions. The nationally famous Methodist evangelist Lorenzo Dow spoke to large crowds there in 1802 and 1803, and on February 22, 1803, his sermon on The Trinity used three large tree branches as an illustration. On March 1, 1918, the Pentecostal Benevolent Association, consisting of G.O. Gaines, Perry Sexton, Hugh Bowling, Josiah Allen, John W. Jordan, and Joseph C. Sorrow, purchased the site, which became the home of Franklin Springs Institute, now Emmanuel College.