Franklinton

History

Franklinton was founded in 1819, originally under the name of Franklin. It was designated as the parish seat of government on February 10, 1821, two years after the parish was carved out from St. Tammany Parish. In 1826 the town's name was changed to Franklinton, as there was already another town named Franklin in St. Mary Parish. In 1826, representatives and citizens from both communities showed up in then-state-capital New Orleans to state their cases for keeping the name "Franklin." The legislature allowed Franklin in St. Mary Parish to retain its name, while changing the Washington Parish's newer seat to Franklinton. The parish was largely rural, based in extensive pine forests. In the early hours of January 11, 1935, a small group of white men forced their way into the Washington Parish jail in Franklinton, fatally shooting and beating Jerome Wilson, 30, an African-American man convicted of murder. He had pleaded for mercy. Five days earlier the Louisiana Supreme Court had granted Wilson a new trial, on the grounds that he had not received a fair trial. The decision cited that he was tried, convicted, and sentenced within ten days of his arrest in August in the slaying of Deputy Sheriff Delos C. Wood in a gunfight on the Wilson place. In 2005, much of Franklinton, as well as most of Washington Parish, sustained damage from Hurricane Katrina. It caused extensive damage along the Gulf Coast.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 4.2 square miles (10.9 km), of which 4.1 square miles (10.7 km) is land and 0.04 square mile (0.1 km) (0.95%) is water. The Bogue Chitto River flows through the western edge of the town.

Race & ethnicity