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Records of the Association from 1904-1917 have been lost to time, but through newspaper articles we’ve learned that the City of Franklin was offered a Carnegie Library building. The library was now housed in two connecting rooms in the Hancock Building. Building, until it outgrew the space and moved across the street in 1897. The FLA was first housed on the 2nd floor of the Printz Co. The library was not a free, public library but a subscription library. The charter also provided for a 5-member Board of Directors to manage the Association. A charter was written stating the wish to found and main a public library in the City of Franklin. Fifty people each paid $50 for the privilege of a life membership in the association. In 1894, the Franklin Library Association (FLA) was established after the tireless effort of the Hancock family, the Mullins family, Henry Sibley and S.C. Advertisements were published in the Franklin Evening News urging citizens to contribute books, money and time. Hancock and Professor Kinsley urged members of the 1894 graduation class of the local schools to each purchase one book for a library.

This allowed adults access to read magazines and newspapers, write letters and meet friends. Simonds started a Reading Room in the Fall of 1864 for a fee of $5/year. Both of these additions greatly expanded the public use areas of the library. A children’s room was added in 1964 and another wing was added for the adult collection in 1978. The original structure was built in 1849 as a residence and required extensive renovations in 1921 to make it suitable for library use. The Franklin Public Library was founded in 1894 and has had several homes, although its current location on Twelfth Street has been its home since 1921.

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