Franklin School

For more than 1 billion years, Franklin has held valuable minerals. Iron mining began in the 1760s, and the first school was a log structure near the Baptist Church, replaced by a brick school in 1871 as iron production increased and railroads arrived. Zinc mining intensified around 1912 with world-class size operations, and the need for skilled labor led to the construction of the country's first vocational-technical school to educate workers. Construction began in 1914 beside an old oak tree on a hilltop site that had been home to athletic fields for the Franklin Miners baseball and football players. Population growth required expansions in 1922, in 1926 with a high school, and again in 1960, including Vernon and Jefferson. Several generations of students, parent and child, attended kindergarten through 12th grade in the same building, the last K-12 school of its kind in New Jersey until Wallkill Valley Regional High School opened in 1982 for grades 9-12. Franklin School still serves the borough, educating Franklin's children on the hilltop beside the oak tree.

Franklin, New Jersey · United States