The Franklin Academy occupied this site from 1881 until 1922 as one of six Congregational Church-affiliated academies in Nebraska, with the others located at Crete, York, Neligh, Weeping Water, and Chadron. More than 2,500 students in college preparatory studies attended the academy. Its distinguished alumni included author Adah Patterson, Federal Judge Robert Van Pelt, and Dr. Frank Cyr of Columbia University, under whose leadership the standard yellow school bus was developed. The campus originally had four buildings: the main academy building; Stewart Hall, a boys' dormitory; Harrison Hall, a girls' dormitory named in honor of academy founder Reverend C. S. Harrison; and Dupee Music Hall, constructed in 1901. The campus is now the Franklin city park, and Dupee Music Hall still stands at its original site immediately west of here and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. Financial problems and declining enrollment caused by the increasing number of public high schools led to the academy's closing.