Franklin, the seat of justice for Venango County, is situated on a broad plain a little above the mouth of French Creek, and is surrounded with scenery highly picturesque. The distance from Pittsburgh by water is 139 miles, by land being only 68 miles. It contains the usual county buildings and Presbyterian, Methodist and Cumberland Presbyterian Churches. Franklin is evidently built wrong end to, which can be accounted for in the following manner: In the spring of 1787 a company of U. S. troops under the command of Capt. Hart arrived at this place from Fort Pitt, now Pittsburgh. They amounted to 87 in number, including officers. There were perhaps a dozen other persons not immediately connected with the troops, and this constituted the whole board at that time. Immediately on their arrival they commenced erecting what they called Fort Franklin, and from which the name of the Town is derived. In place of locating it at the mouth of French Creek so as to command that steam as well as the Allegheny River, they made their location about 180 rods above the mouth of the former, and at a point that would not at all command the latter. The road from Fort Pitt to Le Boeuf, now Waterford, crossed the creek within a few rods of the fort, and bad as the reason may appear, it was perhaps the only one that induced the selection. It was a mere Indian path then, but the fording was good, and the ascent of the opposite hill was the most practicable from it. Indeed, the existence of this path, and the erection of the fort near it, induced those who settled here at any early period to make their location near to both these supposed advantages. The road, or path, was the only inland thoroughfare to the place, and on it, in the town, was established the hotel and near this merchant erected his stall, and the mechanic his shop. Thus was the town at that time built upon its present site, far from where strangers think it ought to have been located.

Fort Franklin was located immediately above, and west of the south end, of the French Creek bridge, and consequently on the south bank of French Creek. It was a parallelogram, the out works including about 100 feet square. These works consisted of high embankments, outside of which arose tall pine pickets 16 feet high. There were four bastions surmounted by small cannon. Within the area formed by the ditches, was the block house with a high stack of chimneys in the center. In this building were the magazine and munitions. The huts of the soldiers were in the ditch around the block house and within the pickets. This fort was situated on a bluff bank of the creek 25 to 30 feet high and nearly perpendicular. To this day is to be seen a deep ditch running along the top and near the edge of this bank some 120 feet in length up the creek. This was intended for a covered way leading from the fort to a small redoubt at the very margin of the creek, which was mounted by two guns. The garrison had what they called a green house, or cave, in which they kept vegetables and meat. This was within a few feet of the excavation made at the end of the bridge for a toll house. A garrison of nearly 100 men, including officers, was kept at Fort Franklin until 1796 when, what is familiarly known as "Old Garrison," at the mouth of the creek, was erected by the troops at the Fort, at a point more convenient for receiving provisions and munitions brought up by boat and canoes from Pittsburgh. It was a strong wooden building, a story and a half high and, perhaps 30, by 34 feet in length. It was picketed in, but not calculated to be mounted with cannon. Indeed the necessity for this had ceased as the treaty of Gen. Wayne with the Indians at Fort Greenville had been made in 1795 and was then believed, as it turned out to be, a lasting peace. From the time the troops occupied the garrison, the Fort was suffered to dilapidate, and went entirely to ruins. The stone in the chimneys was hauled away by the citizens of the place, and used in building foundations and chimneys for private dwellings. The Troops continued to occupy the garrison until 1803 when they were withdrawn from Franklin altogether. The "Old Garrison" was occupied from the organization of the county in 1805 as a common jail, when the new county jail was completed. It remained standing, though in ruins, until 1824, when the last vestige disappeared, and the very foundation on which it stood was washed away and is now a part of the bed of French Creek.

There are also the remains of two other forts here of a more ancient date, and erected at different periods. These were located just below the junction of French Creek, so as to command the Allegheny. The most ancient of the two, the people of the village call the Old French Fort. Its ruins plainly indicate its destruction by fire. Burnt stone, melted glass and iron , leave no doubt of this. All through the groundworks are to be found mouldering bones, knives, gun-barrels, locks, musket-balls, etc. M. De Lignery, the French commander, no doubt burned the works here as he had done those at Fort Duquesne in 1759 when they withdrew their forces at this place, Le Boeuf and Presqu'isle, to strengthen Fort Niagara. This fort was situated a short distance below the Franklin bridge.

"That these works had cannon on them, cannot be doubted, as a small one, perhaps a four-pounder, was found in the bank of the river some four or five years ago. The old gun, which doubtless had withstood the shock of contending foes - had survived the discomfort of savage association, and while a century of storm, of sunshine, of flood and tide, had rolled away, had lain snug, hale, and hearty, in its place of security - was at last discovered by some people, who dragged it from its resting-place, and with their advantage in science over its old masters, loaded it to the muzzle with powder and sand, and - blew it to pieces! It is a wonder that its last loud and parting peal did not awaken from his deep slumber some old friend to avenge the indignity!"

"A few rods northeast of the fort, near Franklin, are a great number of graves. These are the long-homes of the soldier and the savage. They are not the graves of whitemen alone, for some of the citizens a few years since opened several of them, and found Indian remains and arms. This custom of burying arms, clothing or culinary vessels, with the deceased, prevailed not among the French or English, but among the Indians alone. It was a pleasant and enchanting spot to lie down in that "sleep that knows no waking." There come the Allegheny and French Creek, and mingle their waters, like streams of life flowing on to the gulf of eternity. Who shall tell the story of the sleepers in these narrow habitations? None! No column, no stone, however lowly, tells a letter of their history. Yet there sleep men who once engaged in the bloody struggle for universal empire, in the eighteenth century, between the Bourbon and the Britain. There are many graves scattered throughout the county. On the summit of the hill above the dam, there is the grave undoubtedly of some great chief. The excavation is unusually deep, and great care and labor have been expended in its construction. It occupies a commanding position. The town, stream and landscape around are seen to great advantage from this point. With anxious eye the aged chief has cast a dying glance on the home of his childhood and age, and the wigwams of his people below, and then composed himself in death on the summit of this hill. His grave is like the grave of the great chieftain of Israel, made amidst the rocks and solitude of the mountain. In the wild and poetic religion of the Indian, the spirit of the warrior was often seen upon that lonely hill, like some sleepless sentinel pointing out to his tribe the path of safety and glory.

From 1954 C of C write-up:

FRANKLIN

"Franklin is well situated in a beautiful valley in the Allegheny mountains, at the confluence of French Creek and the Allegheny River, in Western Pennsylvania. It is the hub of a circle including Pittsburgh, Erie, Cleveland, Sharon and Youngstown. Cleveland, Ohio, is approximately 100 miles distant, the other mentioned cities are nearer. It is 150 miles from Buffalo, N.Y., and 425 miles from Washington, D.C. and New York city. Excellent highways make trucking to these and mid-western markets easy.

There is much to observe and admire beside the scenic splendor of Franklin. It is the county seat of Venango County; a place of diversified industries; a city that offers the advantage of low taxes; a progressive city that has so run its affairs that it has never exceeded its means nor worked hardships on its people. The historic court house is situated in the midst of a beautiful park and within the city the sites of old Forts Machault (1753), Venango (1760) and Franklin are suitably marked. Nationally famous Cook's Forest and Col. Drake Park, site of the first oil well, are within easy driving distance of the city.