Franklin (Missouri)

Howard County

29-25624

Franklin is a small town (city ) in Howard County in the U.S. state of Missouri. Named after Benjamin Franklin town lies on the north bank of the Missouri River, about 160 km upstream from St. Louis and across from Boonville.

The region was settled in 1808, to use the 1804/ 05 discovered by the Lewis and Clark Expedition saline sources. The mid- 1810s, Franklin was the westernmost settlement on the Missouri River and the end of the regular shipping traffic with keelboats on the river. Salt-works was the economic basis of the settlement. The brine was heated in open vessels, the salt dried and sent by boat to St. Louis. 1819 here the only newspaper west of St. Louis was printed. The Missouri Intelligencer and Advertiser Boonslick was the news publication for the scattered settlers living on the border of civilization.

William Becknell started here in 1821 to his first Handelszug through the prairies and deserts of Kansas later in the 1300 km distant, then still Mexican Santa Fe. After he returned with great profit of the month-long journey, broke next year but him already three other dealer, the cornerstone of the Santa Fe Trail was laid.

The town benefited only a few years from the overland trade, since 1828 the Missouri River overflowed its banks and the settlement heavily damaged. Most of the inhabitants built up about a kilometer away and slightly higher New Franklin. Only a few remained on the old site. 1993 destroyed a renewed flood the buildings constructed on the former victims monuments.