Franklin County, Texas

Franklin County Education, Geography, and History

Franklin County is a county located in the state of Texas. Based on the 2010 census, its population was 10,605. The county seat is Mount Vernon.

Etymology - Origin of Franklin County Name

Although the origin of the county's name is not recorded, it is generally believed to have been named after Judge Benjamin C. Franklin, the first appointed justice in the Republic of Texas.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Franklin County History

Franklin County was established in 1875 from land given by Titus County.  Probably Benjamin Cromwell Franklin, an early judge and legislator in Texas. Its seat is Mount Vernon

Handbook of Texas Online
Archeological evidence to the north in Red River County indicates that the area was occupied by Indians as early as the Late Archaic Period, around 1500 B.C. At the time of first European contact, the area was occupied by the Caddo Indians, an agricultural people with a highly developed culture. During the last decade of the eighteenth century, due to epidemics that decimated the tribe and problems with the Osages, most of the Caddos abandoned the villages they had occupied for centuries. During the early 1820s bands of Shawnee, Delaware, and Kickapoo Indians immigrated to the area. These Indians stayed for only a brief period, then generally abandoned their settlements in the mid-1830s. The time of earliest European exploration of the area has not been conclusively determined. The Moscoso expedition of 1542 may have passed through or very near what is now Franklin County. It could be, however, that the first European contact with the area did not occur until after 1719, when the French founded Le Poste des Cadodaquious in what is now Bowie County. Although the French occupied the post for more than fifty years, little is known about their activities. It seems probable, however, that they did explore as far to the southwest as Franklin County. White settlement began in the late 1830s along the eastern edge of what became Franklin County; most of the early settlers came from the upper southern states, predominantly Tennessee. The Cherokee Trace passed through the area, and by the late 1840s the central part of the county was also settled. By 1870 Mount Vernon had a population of 223. The county was marked off by the legislature in March 1875 and named for Judge Benjamin C. Franklin, an early Red River County settler. An election was held on April 30, 1875, to select the county seat. Mount Vernon won by a large majority, and the matter was never again contested. More at
Cecil Harper, Jr., "FRANKLIN COUNTY," Handbook of Texas Online (http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/hcf08), accessed January 23, 2016. Uploaded on June 12, 2010. Published by the Texas State Historical Association.

Geography: Land and Water

As reported by the Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 295 square miles (763 km²), of which, 286 square miles (740 km²) of it is land and 9 square miles (23 km²) of it (3.09%) is water.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Red River County (north)
• Titus County (east)
• Camp County (southeast)
• Wood County (south)
• Hopkins County (west)
• Delta County (northwest)
  

Education

The following school districts serve Franklin County:

Mount Vernon ISD
Rivercrest ISD (partly in Red River, Titus counties)
Saltillo ISD (mostly in Hopkins County)
Sulphur Bluff ISD (mostly in Hopkins County)
Winnsboro ISD (mostly in Wood County, small portion in Hopkins County)

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