Franklin County, Pennsylvania

Franklin County Education, Geography, and History

Franklin County is a county located in South Central Pennsylvania. Based on the 2010 census, the population was 149,618. Its county seat is Chambersburg.

Franklin County comprises the Chambersburg-Waynesboro, PA Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Washington-Baltimore-Arlington, DC-MD-VA-WV-PA Combined Statistical Area. It lies to a large extent within the Cumberland Valley.

Etymology - Origin of Franklin County Name

Named for Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Chambers, for whom it was named, founded Chambersburg, the county seat, in 1764.

Demographics:

County QuickFacts: CensusBureau Quick Facts

Franklin County History

Created on September 9, 1784 from part of Cumberland County and named for Benjamin Franklin. Benjamin Chambers, for whom it was named, founded Chambersburg, the county seat, in 1764. It was incorporated as a borough on March 21, 1803.

Benjamin Chambers's settlement in 1730 was the first permanent settler community. The lower Cumberland Valley was included in a purchase from the Indians in October 1736, but this was the scene of heavy Indian fighting in the period 1756 to 1763. From 1837 on, the Cumberland Valley Railroad gave the county marketing opportunities. Franklin has always had an agricultural base, but its early iron furnaces lost out to competition elsewhere. Paper, lumber, and crushed stone, however, were successfully produced. The Confederate Army twice captured Chambersburg, and the second time, in July 1864, they burned it. In 1920, Franklin was the state's seventh ranked agricultural producer, and in 1992 it was fourth in receipts from livestock and tenth in crops. Dairying is especially successful. Farms cover 51.6 percent of the land.

Geography: Land and Water

A large part of Franklin County lies within the Cumberland Valle.

Neighboring Counties

Bordering counties are as follows:

• Juniata County (north)
• Perry County (northeast)
• Cumberland County (northeast)
• Adams County (east)
• Frederick County, Maryland (southeast)
• Washington County, Maryland (south)
• Fulton County (west)
• Huntingdon County (northwest)

Education

Chambersburg Area School District
Fannett-Metal School District (also in Perry County)
Greencastle-Antrim School District
Shippensburg Area School District (also in Cumberland County)
Tuscarora School District
Waynesboro Area School District

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