Emlenton
Franklin
Oil City
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Ridgway

Styles

Adam
Greek Revival
Classical Revival
Gothic Revival
Italianate
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Queen Anne
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English Cottage

FRANKLIN  (Page 3 of 4)

Just upriver from Franklin you can easily see the Joseph Sibley mansion, River Ridge, situated on a hill and looking back down on the valley and across the river to Route 8.  Sibley made a fortune as a young man in partnership with Franklin resident, Charles Miller.  Sibley and Miller were the two principals who created and organized the Galena-Signal Oil company, a refining company specializing in lubricants and kerosene lamp oil for the railroad market.  The company early on became a subsidiary of Rockefeller’s Standard Oil.  In the 1890's and the first decade of the 1900's, Sibley was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives for five terms. President McKinley, the Speaker Of the U.S. House of Representatives, Standard Oil’s  John D. Rockefeller were all his close friends and were entertained by him in his original residence on Elk Street at 12th in Franklin or at his vacation home on Lake Champlain.  President McKinley was traveling in 1901 with Joseph Sibley in Sibley’s private rail car when the President was assassinated in Buffalo.   Sibley built River Ridge in 1913 after the death of his first wife.  The River Ridge estate grounds were operated as an experimental farm.
 

View Looking Out from Front of River Ridge		View of Front of River Ridge

Franklin’s downtown retail and commercial district, immediately adjacent to its nineteenth century residential neighborhoods, remains firmly rooted in its Victorian past.  The Victorian character and integrity of Franklin’s downtown testifies to the long prosperity enjoyed by the community and the appreciation later generations have had for this Victorian architectural legacy.  Nestled in the valley of French Creek between two high and wooded hillsides, the place seems enchanted, as if by means of some wonderful magic it was taken from another place and time.

The Next Franklin Page will provide information on 

• Recommended Readings on Franklin
• Accomodations in the Franklin Area
• Dining Establishments
• Specific Attractions
• Driving Directions