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- Franklinton was established on April 16, 1839 as Franklin Depot on the land of Shemuel Kearney. The name was
officially changed to Franklinton on December 20, 1842 when the community was incorporated.
- R.W. Godwin was the first mayor of Franklinton.
- Franklinton United Methodist Church was the first church to be organized in Franklinton. Construction of the
original building initially began in 1844 on the corner of Main and Mason Streets. The current building, built in 1892,
is located just north of the corner of North Main and Vine Streets between First Citizens Bank and the A.H. Vann
House.
- The Franklinton Post Office first opened on November 27, 1839.
- The Sterling Cotton Mill, built in 1891, was started and originally owned by Samuel C. Vann...first opening in 1895.
In 1932, the mill closed but re-opened in 1935 under new ownership though remaining in the Vann family. In 1972,
the Sterling Cotton Mill was purchased by Union Underwear Company...maufacturers of Fruit of the Loom fabric
products. The mill closed for good in 1991. It is currently occupied by the Franklinton Commerce Center. A
national historic landmark.
- Comedian Soupy Sales was born in Franklinton on January 8, 1926. Former NBA basketball player and current
Philadelphia 76ers Assistant Coach Henry Bibby and his brother, former MLB baseball pitcher Jim Bibby, were also
born in Franklinton. Other notable Franklinton natives include former NFL and Arena football running back Wilmont
Perry, currently an offensive backs coach for the Louisburg College Hurricanes, and country singer Jason Michael
Carroll, whose premier album Waitin' In The Country debuted at #1 on the Country Billboard Chart the week of its
release on February 6, 2007.
- Dr. Thomas Oscar Fuller, Sr., a minister, teacher, historian and one of the very first African-American State Senators,
was born in Franklinton on October 25, 1867. He was elected to the North Carolina General Assembly in 1898,
serving for one year. Fuller also founded the Girls' Training School of Franklinton in 1890 and served as its first
principal. He died in Memphis, Tennessee on June 21, 1942. A state park is named for him there.
- The Albion Academy was a co-educational African-American school founded by clergyman Dr. Moses A. Hopkins in
1879, which once stood on East College Street. Hopkins was appointed U.S. minister to Liberia in 1885, turning over
the position of president to Dr. John A. Savage. The Albion Academy eventually became a State Normal & Industrial
School which mainly trained teachers, though other occupations and trades were also taught to both men and women
from Franklinton along with many places in the Southeast and even some from other countries. Around 1929, the
Albion Academy began educating high school students while the recently formed Franklinton Graded School on South
Main Street served elementary students. The graded school was renamed the B.F. Person School in 1934 to honor
Professor Benjamin Franklin Person. A new high school facility was built in 1954 alongside the graded school with
Reverend John P. Mangrum, who became principal of the Albion Academy after Dr. Savage in 1933, being its first
principal there.
The Albion Academy merged with the B.F. Person High School on January 7, 1957, thus making the
student education system grades 1 through 12. In recognition of this consolidation, the school was
renamed B.F. Person-Albion High School in December 1961. Hearings were held between government and
school officials along with both black and white parents and teachers in regards to desegregation after the
passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Students were soon allowed to select the school of their choice.
Fifteen black students chose to attend the predominantly white Franklinton High School in 1964, though
issues regarding desegregation remained. Eventually, all high school students were transferred from B.F.
Person-Albion High School to Franklinton High School. The two schools were finally integrated in 1969,
and the B.F. Person-Albion High School was officially renamed Franklinton Elementary School on August
5th of that year. There is only one building remaining from the original Albion Academy site, most
recently used as a church but now stands vacant.
- Novozymes, a biochemical facility located just outside of town specializing in the production of multi-purpose
enzymes for turning matter into fuel, was toured by President George W. Bush on February 22, 2007 as part of his
initiative for cutting gas consumption in the United States by twenty percent over the next ten years.
Sources: U.S. Census Bureau, The North Carolina Gazetteer by William S. Powell, A Walk Through History edited by Cheryl Faye
Hollar, Wikipedia, The Political Graveyard, The News & Observer, The Tennessee Encyclopedia of History & Culture.
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