Frankton Town Market

They stayed on.  They were helpless as the hundreds left and then dozens of houses were loosened from their foundations and moved. In their favor were two points, both virtues -- loyalty and determination. Upon these two community fundamentals they set about to make the most of the situation and to produce a new Frankton, a substantial Frankton as it had been before the artificial splurge. From that day on Frankton started upward and today it is, by reason, of the loyalty and determination of her people of the post-boom era and those who have followed them, a community of which her people and her country can be proud. Frankton is, in fact, a community of distinction. Frankton is truly a grassroots community. Like the other communities we have covered in this series, Leisure, Aroma, Rigdon, Curtisville, New Lancaster, Windfall, Hobbs, Omega, Orestes, Point Isabel and Dundee, Frankton is a community of neighborly, Christian people who live by law and support their common interests. We would be overlooking another Frankton virtue if we did not mention that Frankton is also a community of most courteous people.  This was refreshingly evident everywhere that we went during our various visits, day and night. Frankton is a community of pride. This is displayed by the care that is taken by its people of the houses and their yards. Frankton is a community of modernity, yet it retains a touch of yesterday, the old school bell of yesterday still sending its message over the housetops, some of which support television aerials of today. Frankton is distinctive in various ways.  It is distinctive because it owns its own water works and offers its people the lowest rates in the country.  It is distinctive because its ultra-modern school is on the verge of becoming a first class educational institution.  It is distinctive by being a community of paved streets, and it is distinctive because of its civic pride. And we might add that Frankton is distinctive because it is reported by history to have had its inception, so to speak, in a tree. Down through the years after its founder endured the hardships of living in that tree grew a community whose population rose to 2,500 during the artificial era and then fell to half that figure. But, we reiterate, “you can’t keep a good community down,” gradually rose after the big “bust” until the 1940 census showed 824.  Today’s Franktonians who are observers of the overall picture put today’s population at around 1,200.  New houses which are springing up over the town support their figure. It was 120 years ago this year that the first ground was turned for the establishment of what is not Frankton, but it was not until 1853 that the site was platted and it was not until 1871 that the village was recognized as a village through official articles of incorporation. In a preceding paragraph we referred to Frankton as a community that was conceived in a tree.  This at-a-glance fantastic assertion sounds absurd, but, nevertheless, history gives it the element of truth and permanent plan in the archives of this pleasant little community. Frankton’s inception came in 1829 when, according to a brief history, loaned to us by Mrs. William Miller, Jacob Sigler, a pioneer of the first order, decided to settle a plot of land near what is not the K.P. - IOOF Cemetery. He took over 80 acres and during the time that he was clearing the land Mr. Sigler is officially reported to have lived in a large hollow of a sycamore tree along the banks of Pipe Creek, named for Chief Pipe, an Indian of the era. It is written that the area was then infested with hungry wolves which howled through the long nights to the founding father’s consternation, but he carried on until he had cleared a sufficient amount of land to lay claim to it. This done, Mr. Sigler rode horseback to Fort Wayne, where he entered the land and took a deed to it.  The trip to Fort Wayne, 76 miles from Frankton, took two days. Today, Fort Wayne is