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America’s 250th Scavenger Hunt – STOP EIGHT
What, When...
WHAT:
Time post-Reconstruction period to the 1920’s where Franklin transforms from agricultural plantations to mechanized to steam, steel, and factories- sometimes known at the Second Industrial Revolution
WHEN:
1870-1920
Key Events:
KEY EVENTS:
1870s
Rebuilding the railroad tracks and shifting to a wage-labor economy.
1880s
Lillie Mills opens; steam replaces water as the primary source of power for industry.
1890s
Electricity and telephones arrive; the Public Square is lit at night for the first time.
1900s
The Interurban Railway (1908) connects Franklin to Nashville via electric rail.
1910
The first gas stations and "auto shops" appear as cars begin to replace carriages.
1920s
Franklin is a fully modern town with paved streets, a cinema (The Franklin Theatre later in '37), and a growing middle class. Allen Manufacturing Company (The Factory of Franklin) would come to town in 1929 and be replaced by Dorch Stove Works in 1932.
