Franklin

With Franklin, a new photographic history of the town and its people, well-known local historian and columnist James C. Johnston Jr. presents a sensitive retrospective of his hometown. Buildings, people, documents, modes of transportation, and all aspects of life as it once was are illustrated vividly in Mr. Johnston's fascinating collection of images from the past. In the 1660s the first European settlers came to Franklin, which was originally inhabited by the Wampanoag Indians. The town was named for Benjamin Franklin, in a somewhat successful attempt to flatter the famous and influential American statesman. A gift of books sent to the town by Mr. Franklin formed the basis for the very first public library in the United States. A well-read and inventive community, Franklin has been home to a number of influential Americans itself, including Horace Mann, the Father of American Education. Mr. Johnston's pictorial history of Franklin honors the memory of these great citizens and also chronicles the development of the town through its industrial revolution.