Downtown Franklin is 15 blocks of intact 19th-century commercial architecture surrounding a courthouse square. It is the reason the American Planning Association named Franklin one of the Great Places in America. It almost didn't survive.
The original plan is still the plan. Laid out in 1799 by Abram Maury on a simple grid, with a public square at the intersection of Main and Third. The county courthouse — the current version dates to 1858 — has anchored that square for over 165 years.
The buildings on Main Street mostly date from 1870 to 1910. After the Civil War, Franklin's merchants rebuilt with brick and cast iron. Two- and three-story Italianate storefronts with decorative cornices, arched windows, and full-height display fronts. Most of those buildings are still there, still occupied, and still recognizable from photos taken in 1895.
The 1960s and 70s almost killed it. Suburban shopping centers, downtown parking shortages, and the general decline of American Main Streets left half the storefronts vacant by 1980. There was serious discussion of demolishing entire blocks for parking lots. It didn't happen because a small group of preservationists — most of them working through what became the Heritage Foundation of Williamson County — started buying buildings themselves.
The Historic District ordinance passed in 1988. It regulates exterior alterations, window replacements, signage, paint colors, and demolition inside the downtown core. Nothing gets torn down without a hearing. Nothing gets rebuilt without design review. Those rules are the reason downtown Franklin looks the way it does.
What lives there now. The Franklin Theatre (1937, fully restored 2011). Puckett's Grocery. Gray's on Main. The Franklin Mercantile. Landmark Booksellers. Independent boutiques, restaurants, and offices in nearly every building. And, quietly, some of the most valuable small commercial real estate in the state — Main Street storefronts trade at prices that would embarrass a Nashville broker.
Living downtown. True in-town residences are rare. The Franklin Row townhomes, the McEwen lofts, and a handful of restored historic homes on Fair Street, 3rd Avenue, and 5th Avenue trade in the $1.2M–$3.5M range when they come up — which is almost never. Downtown Franklin has a waiting list nobody publishes.
If you want to live downtown, own downtown, or understand a very particular real estate market, this is one of my favorite conversations to have. Call or text 310-872-8731.
