Franklin

Franklin is a city in and county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. About 21 miles (34 km) south of Nashville, it is one of the principal cities of the Nashville metropolitan area and Middle Tennessee. As of 2020, its population was 83,454. It is the seventh-largest city in Tennessee. The city developed on both sides of the Harpeth River, a tributary of the Cumberland River. In the 19th century, Franklin (as the county seat) was the trading and judicial center for primarily rural Williamson County. Five African Americans were lynched in Williamson County from 1877 to 1950, most during the decades around the turn of the century, a time of high social tensions and legal racial oppression in the South. The Second Battle of Franklin was fought on November 30, 1864, resulting in almost 10,000 casualties (killed, wounded, captured, and missing). Forty-four buildings were temporarily converted to use as field hospitals. The Carter, Carnton, and the Lotz houses from this era are still standing and are among the city's numerous examples of period architecture. On August 15, 1868, in Franklin, Samuel Bierfield became the first Jewish man to be lynched. He was fatally shot by a large group of masked men believed to be KKK members. They attacked him for treating Blacks equally to Whites in his store. In 1899, a memorial to Confederate soldiers was erected in Franklin to honor a White American man who was accused of killing a Confederate soldier.

History

The City of Franklin was founded October 26, 1799, by Abram Maury Jr. Maury named the town after national founding father Benjamin Franklin. Franklin was the site of a major battle in the FranklinNashville Campaign. In 2010, the city had a population of 62,487. In 2017, it was the seventh-largest city of the state of Tennessee, according to the U.S. Census. The city's population has increased more than fivefold since 1980, when its population was 12,407. It is considered a "model historic preservation adaptive reuse project" since the late 20th century, however, Franklin has rapidly developed as a suburb of Nashville, Tennessee, and the state's second largest city. It was named after Benjamin Franklin, who was born in Franklin, Virginia, in 1701, and died in Franklin in 1799. The current mayor of Franklin is Ewen Cameron, who emigrated from Scotland in 1768 and lived in the same house for 48 years until his death in 1846. He and his second wife, Mary, were buried in the old City Cemetery, which is still in use today. A memorial to Confederate soldiers was erected in 1899 by fourteen women of the United Daughters of the Confederacy to honor Confederate soldiers, including the 6,125 casualties of the Battle of Franklin. The Dortch Stove Works, which opened in 1928, was later developed in the Magic Chef factory, which fell into disuse in the late 1990s.

Geography

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 41.4 square miles (107.3 km²) of which 41.2square miles (106.8 km²), or 0.52%, is land. 0.2 square miles of the city's land is covered by water. The city's climate is considered to be predominantly arid and semi-arid. It has an average annual rainfall of 1.7 inches (4.5 m) and an average yearly temperature of 2.2 inches (7.4 m). The city has an estimated population of 1,816.5 (1.9 million) and a population growth rate of 0.7% (0.8 m/year) since the early 1900s. It is one of the most humid cities in the United States, with an average monthly average temperature of 3.7 degrees (8.7°C). It is the only city in the state to have a temperature of more than 3 degrees (4°C) in the summer. It also has the highest average yearly rainfall in the country, at 1.8 inches (3.2 km²) and 0.6 inches (2.0 m%) in the winter. The average annual temperature in the city is 2.8 degrees (3°C), which is higher than the national average. In the summer, the average monthly rainfall is 1.9 inches (5.3 km) and the average annual temperatures are 2.4 inches (6.0 inches).

Demographics

As of the 2020 U.S. census, there were 83,454 people, 32,690 households, and 23,675 families residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 84.53% White, 10.35% African American, 4.84% Latino, 1.61% Asian, 0.24% Native American, 2.17% from other races, and 1.06% from two or more races. The median income for a household in the CDP was $75,871, and for a family was $91,931. Less than 5.0% of the eligible workforce was unemployed in 2010. The per capita income for the city in 2010 was $36,445. The city's population has grown rapidly since the late 20th century, attracting many businesses. It has a population of 62,487 as of the census of 2010, with a population density of 1,393.3 people per square mile (538.0/km²) The city is located on the shores of the Red River, which is a tributary of the Mississippi River. The Red River runs through the city's central business district, which was once known as the "Red River Valley" and is now known as "The City of Red River" The city has a water supply system that was once considered to be one of the worst in the United States, but is now considered one of its best. The water supply was once thought to be a problem, but has since been improved.

Economy

Franklin is home to health-care-related businesses such as Community Health Systems, Acadia Healthcare, Iasis Healthcare, Tivity Health, Home Instead Senior Care, MedSolutions Inc, and Renal Advantage Inc. Nissan and Mitsubishi Motors, Clarcor, CKE Restaurants, Jackson National Life, Triangle Tyre Company, Magazines.com, Provident Music Group, World Christian Broadcasting, Mars Petcare, Franklin American Mortgage, Lee Company, Ramsey Solutions, Video Gaming Technologies, and Atmos Energy also have corporate or regional headquarters in Franklin.According to the city's 2020 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are: Nissan, Mitsubishi Motors, and CKE Restaurant. The city's unemployment rate is at 3.7%. The unemployment rate in Franklin is at 2.9%. It is the lowest rate in the state of Mississippi. The average household income is $62,000. The median home value is $50,000, and the average house price is $40,500. Franklin has a crime rate of 1.2%. The city has a poverty rate of 0.8%. The average house size is 1.3%. The town has a unemployment rate of 2.0%. It has a population of 2,000 people. The population's poverty rate is 0.6%. The state's unemployment rates are 1.8 percent. The unemployment rates in Franklin are 0.7 percent. the city’s poverty rate has been at 0.9 percent since 2008.

Government

The city is run by a mayor, elected at-large in the city, and a board of eight aldermen. Four of the latter are elected from single-member districts of roughly equal population. The city's policies and procedures are decided by the Board of Mayor and Aldermen, with the City Administrator overseeing 14 departments. Franklin is included in Tennessee Senate District 23, which is coterminous with Williamson County, and held by Republican Jack Johnson, the current Senate Majority Leader. In the Tennessee House of Representatives, Franklin is divided between three districts; District 61, District 63, and District 65, represented by Republican Glen Casada, and Republican Sam Whitson. The mayor is elected for a four-year term, and the mayor and at- Large alderman are elected for two-year terms. The City Administrator is a professional manager hired by the board of alders. The Mayor is a Republican, as is the Mayor of Franklin, who is a Democrat, and serves a term of four years, until he is re-elected for a second term in 2016. The Board of Alderman is made up of four Democrats and four Republicans, with two of the Democrats representing the city in the House of Reps, and one of the Republicans representing Franklin in the Senate. Franklin has a population of 1.2 million; the mayor is the mayor of Franklin for a period of two years, after which he is elected again for a further four years. Franklin's mayor is a Democratic, as are four of the alderman who represent the city.

Education

Most of the city is served by the Williamson County School District for K-8. Outerlying portions are in Williamson County district for grades K-12. Private schools include Battle Ground Academy, Franklin Classical School, Franklin Christian Academy, Montessori School of Franklin, and New Hope Academy. Belmont University, a SPARK satellite campus, is here. Columbia State Community College, a two-year college, serves a nine-county area in Middle Tennessee. New College Franklin, a satellite campus of Columbia State, was opened in 2016 after being constructed for this purpose. The Franklin Special School District serves high school students in the city's special needs area. The city is home to the Franklin High School, a magnet school for students with learning disabilities, and the Franklin Middle School, an alternative school for children with learning difficulties. It is located in the Franklin Center area of Williamson County, near the Tennessee-Tennessee state line. It was built in the 1960s and opened in the 1970s as a high school and middle school. The school was later expanded to become a middle school and high school. It closed in the 1980s and is now a private school and a community college. It opened a new satellite campus in Franklin Center in the 1990s. It has a campus in Williamson Center, as well as two satellite campuses in Nashville and Knoxville. It also has an on-campus campus in Knoxville, Tennessee, that is open to the general public. The campus in Nashville is called the Franklin Campus.

Infrastructure

Interstate 65 passes through the eastern part of the city and provides four exits in the city. U.S. Routes 31 and 431 form a concurrency, connecting the city to Nashville to the north. State Route 397, also designated as US 31/431 Truck and Mack Hatcher Memorial Parkway, serves as a bypass around the business district to the east. Other major thoroughfares in Franklin include Cool Springs Boulevard and McEwen Drive, both of which have interchanges with I-65. The City of Franklin Water Management Department operates a system that provides water and wastewater services to a majority of city residents and some residents of surrounding areas. Some areas of Franklin may receive water and Wastewater services from the Mallory Valley Utility District, the Milcrofton Utility District and the HB&TS Utility District.Electricity is provided by the Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation (MTEMC), which serves several of the suburban counties of Nashville and purchases power from the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) Natural gas service is provided to the city by Atmos Energy, which also provides electricity and natural gas to other parts of the state. The city is located in the Tennessee River valley, which runs through Franklin. The Tennessee River River runs through the western part of Franklin, where it runs through Murfreesboro and Dickson. The river also runs through Brentwood, which is located to the south of Franklin and to the west of Murfreeboro. Franklin is in the Nashville Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes parts of Knoxville, Memphis, and Chattanooga.

Parks

The Park at Harlinsdale Farm is located at the center of the New Southeastern Park Complex. The park complex is home to a number of historic and historic parks. The Park is located on the banks of the Colorado River, which runs through the heart of the town. The area is also known for its rich natural beauty, with many scenic overlooks and rolling hills. It is also home to several historic battlefields, including the Eastern Flank Battlefield and the Aspen Grove Park complex.

Festivals

Pilgrimage Music and Cultural Festival draws nationally prominent acts from a variety of genres. Main Street Festival involves artisans, four stages, two carnivals, and two food courts installed in the historic Franklin Square and Downtown District. Dickens of a Christmas is celebrated every second week in December, attracting approximately 50,000 visitors yearly. Pumpkinfest is an annual fundraiser for the Heritage Foundation of Franklin and Williamson County, held on the Saturday before Halloween. The holiday theme is carried through activities including music, children's amusements, local artisan, and food. Victorian cuisine is served to visitors, and an arts and crafts bazaar features prominently in Public Square. It takes place in Historic Downtown Franklin, and local school and church musical groups often perform. It is held in the same place as A Christmas Carol, where volunteers masquerade as figures from Charles Dickens' A ChristmasCarol. It also features a marketplace showcasing local crafts. The festival is held every second year in downtown Franklin and features artisans and carnivals. It costs $10 to $15 to attend and runs from First to Fifth Avenue, with food and crafts booths in the middle of the street. It runs from September until the end of the festival on October 31, and is free to the public.

Air Quality, Water Quality, Superfund Sites & UV Index

The Air Quality index is in Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee = 72.2. These Air Quality index is based on annual reports from the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The number of ozone alert days is used as an indicator of air quality, as are the amounts of seven pollutants including particulates, carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, lead, and volatile organic chemicals. The Water Quality Index is 80. A measure of the quality of an area’s water supply as rated by the EPA. Higher values are better (100=best). The EPA has a complex method of measuring the watershed quality, using 15 indicators such as pollutants, turbidity, sediments, and toxic discharges. The Superfund Sites Index is 93. Higher is better (100=best). Based upon the number and impact of EPA Superfund pollution sites in the county, including spending on the cleanup efforts. The UV Index in Franklin = 4.5 and is a measure of an area's exposure to the sun's ultraviolet rays. This is most often a combination of sunny weather, altitude, and latitude. The UV Index has been defined by the WHO (www.who.int/news-room/questions-and-answers/item/radiation-the-ultraviolet-(uv)-index) and is uniform worldwide.

Employed

The most recent city population of 83,454 individuals with a median age of 35.8 age the population grows by 31.84% in Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee population since 2000 and are distributed over a density of 1,874.49 residents per square mile of area (723.74/km²). There are average 2.51 people per household in the 21,613 households with an average household income of $69,465 a year. The unemployment rate in Alabama is 7.70% of the available work force and has dropped -6.04% over the most recent 12-month period and the projected change in job supply over the next decade based on migration patterns, economic growth, and other factors will increase by 20.22%. The number of physicians in Franklin per 100,000 population = 483.

Weather

The annual rainfall in Franklin = 51 inches and the annual snowfall = 4.9 inches. The annual number of days with measurable precipitation (over .01 inch) = 112. The average number of days per year that are predominantly sunny = 211. 90 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily high temperature for the month of July and 27.9 degrees Fahrenheit is the average daily low temperature for the month of January. The Comfort Index (higher=better) is 34, where higher values mean a more pleasant climate. The Comfort Index measure recognizes that humidity by itself isn't the problem. (Have you noticed nobody ever complains about the weather being 'cold and humid?) It's in the summertime that we notice the humidity the most, when it's hot and muggy. Our Comfort Index uses a combination of afternoon summer temperature and humidity to closely predict the effect that the humidity will have on people.

Median Home Cost

The percentage of housing units in Franklin, Williamson County, Tennessee which are owned by the occupant = 59.57%. A housing unit is a house, apartment, mobile home, or room occupied as separate living quarters. The average age of homes = 12 years with median home cost = $324,720 and home appreciation of -4.39%. This is the value of the years most recent home sales data. Its important to note that this is not the average (or arithmetic mean). The median home price is the middle value when you arrange all the sales prices of homes from lowest to highest. This is a better indicator than the average, because the median is not changed as much by a few unusually high or low values. The property tax rate of $6.98 shown here is the rate per $1,000 of home value. If for simplification for example the tax rate is $14.00 and the home value is $250,000, the property tax would be $14.00 x ($250,000/1000), or $3500. This is the 'effective' tax rate.

Study

The local school district spends $5,315 per student. There are 15 students for each teacher in the school, 592 students for each Librarian and 437 students for each Counselor. 5.40% of the area’s population over the age of 25 with an Associate Degree or other 2-year college degree, 32.33% with a master’s degree, Ph.D. or other advanced college degree and 10.87% with high school diplomas or high school equivalency degrees (GEDs).