In 1847 one of Franklin's most influentialcouples, Richard and Mary Rebecca Murfee Barrett, married and received a 260 acre farm from Mary's father, Simon. The couple built ahouse near the center of the new settlementand began providing meals to the railroad'strack layers. The Barretts' new business soondeveloped into a hotel, a popular stopoveron the Norfolk to Edenton run. In 1857 Richard persuaded the railroad to relocate itsdepot to the west side of the river and build alarger hotel to accommodate the rapidlyincreasing rail and river traffic. The BarrettHotel, located on one of the four cornerscreated by the railroad and Main Street, wasa large building with double verandas, which"ranked as high as the reputation of the hotels of Norfolk, Richmond and Baltimore."The hotel burned in 1881 but the Barrettscontinued to be leaders in Franklin's earlycommercial, social, and religious life.
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...Mary Rebecca Murfee Barrett (1822- 1897)...
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The Barrett family ...
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Richard Crawford Barrett (1849 - 1928), son of Richardand Mary Rebecca, and his wife, ...
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...desk from Goodman and Barrett's drugstore ...
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Barrett's Cornet Band, ca. 1890 ...
(Bottom; Franklin Timeline included:)
1903 - The Parker Buggy Company sparks a "buggy boom."
1906 - Franklin begins developing a water and sewage system.
1907 - C.C. Vaughan buys the first automobile in Southampton.
1910 - Franklin's wooden Blackwater Bridge is replaced with a steel bridge.
1912 - The Franklin Female Seminary becomes a public school.
1913 - Two automobile dealerships open in Franklin.
1917 - 1918 America fights in World War I. Franklin begins to pave its streets with oil - soaked gravel.
1922 - Franklin adopts the Town Manager form of government and builds a brick high school.
1926 - The Franklin - Murfreesboro Road is built and the Franklin Public Library is established.
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