Recovery and Progress

Franklin recovered rapidly after the War because its location at the junction of a railroad and an important water route attracted new people and commerce. In 1866 the Albemarle Steam Navigation Company was reorganized and the Seaboard Coast Line Railroad was rebuilt, while new wharves supported steadily growing trade in lumber and peanuts, the region’s principal products. Franklin elected its first municipal government in 1869 and incorporated in 1876, and in 1879 the government cleared navigational obstructions between Franklin and Edenton after being impressed by the quantity of goods carried on the Blackwater-Chowan route. Although a fire in 1881 destroyed almost everything from the railroad to First Avenue, the business district was soon rebuilt in brick and stone. During the 1890s Franklin added naphtha street lights downtown, installed a telephone system, built two new schools, and bought a pumper fire-fighting machine. Other developments listed in the town’s progress include clearing obstructions from the Blackwater to Neely Mill in 1879, the 1881 Great Fire, the 1886 purchase of the Neely sawmill by P.D. Camp and Company and the establishment of Vaughan and Company as Franklin’s first bank, the organization of Camp Manufacturing Company in 1887, construction of the Atlantic and Danville Railroad through Franklin in 1888, the establishment of Franklin Male Academy in 1890 and Franklin Female Seminary in 1894, Franklin men serving in Cuba during the Spanish-American War in 1898 under General C.C. Vaughn Jr., and the building of a water tank in 1901.

Franklin, Virginia · United States