Franklin, Alabama
9 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1955 and the latest in 1981. It stands in the Tuskegee census division. It lies in ZIP code area 36083. It stands on Gleeden Branch. The Survey maps it on the La Place quadrangle. 590 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 351 feet above sea level.
Population over time
2 figuresFranklin grew from 149 to 590 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.
| Year | People | Change |
|---|---|---|
| 2010 | 149 | |
| 2020 | 590 | +441 (+296%) |
Topographic sheets covering this place
5 surveys from 9 printed sheetsMatched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.
- 1955 USGS Phenix City quadrangle1:250000, 3 printings
- 1957 USGS Phenix City quadrangle1:250000
- 1958 USGS Phenix City quadrangle1:250000
- 1971 USGS La Place quadrangle1:24000, 2 printings
- 1981 USGS Tuskegee quadrangle1:100000, 2 printings
Fires near this place
332 since 1994Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 332 fires within 5 miles of Franklin between 1994 and 2020, burning about 4,903 acres in total. 3 started naturally. 103 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Reported cause | Fires |
|---|---|
| Arson/incendiarism | 103 |
| Debris and open burning | 101 |
| Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 65 |
| Smoking | 30 |
| Equipment and vehicle use | 11 |
| Recreation and ceremony | 10 |
| Railroad operations and maintenance | 7 |
| Natural | 3 |
| Misuse of fire by a minor | 1 |
| Other causes | 1 |
The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.
| Date | Cause | Size | Reported by | Name on the report |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 September 1998 | Debris and open burning | 25 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 8 September 2017 | Debris and open burning | 35 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20170908-1 |
| 8 September 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5.1 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 8 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 30 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 8 September 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 25 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | not named |
| 6 September 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160906-4 |
| 30 September 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20190930-22 |
| 30 September 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6.0 acres | Alabama Forestry Commission | 20160930-1 |
Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:
Mines and quarries near this place
2 within 5 milesRegional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 2 workings within 5 miles of Franklin: 1 past producer, 1 prospect. None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
| Where | Site | Commodity | Status | Recorded |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chehaw Pit | Sand and Gravel, Construction | Past Producer | ||
| Mac 5 Clay Prospect | Clay | Prospect |
Storms near this place
8 since 1999Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Franklin in 8 storm reports between 1999 and 2024: 3 thunderstorm wind, 2 flash flood, 2 tornado, 1 hail. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.
| When | Event | Place named | Harm | What the report says |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| August 1999 | Flash Flood | Franklin | $15,000 | Several roads washed out and closed due to high water. |
| August 1999 | Hail | Franklin | $12,000 | Golfball size hail was reported on Interstate 85 at Franklin. |
| August 2010 | Thunderstorm Wind | Franklin | $5,000 | Ten or more trees were blown down South and West of Liberty Park City. |
| December 2024 | Tornado (EF0) | Franklin | - | A weak tornado moved northward across County Road 56, just southwest of Sharpe Field. Only a few small trees and tree limbs were downed. A tornado debris signature was detected by KMXX (Maxwell Air Force Base) radar. Maximum winds were estimated at 60 mph. |
| June 2023 | Thunderstorm Wind | Franklin | - | Several trees uprooted in the Franklin Community. |
| June 2023 | Flash Flood | Franklin | - | Radar estimated rainfall amounts of 3-4 inches over northern Macon County during the evening hours. County Road 57 flooded and impassable. |
| April 2022 | Tornado (EF1) | Franklin | - | National Weather Service meteorologists surveyed damage in northern Macon County and determined that it was consistent with an EF1 tornado, with maximum winds near 90 mph. The tornado touched down along Highway 49 in the Franklin community. |The tornado moved somewhat erratically northeastward, crossed largely harvested forested fields as it approached Macon County Road 36, breaking a few large tree limbs or causing a few trees to lean into others. The tornado continued across open fields before breaking large limbs along Chewacla Creek. After crossing the creek, the tornado crossed the site of the historic Tuskegee Army Airfield, intermittently snapping or uprooting numerous young softwood trees, and continued across Macon County Road 56. The tornado then seemed to intensify somewhat as it approached Alabama Highway 199, where 10 to 20 mature pine trees were snapped. The tornado quickly weakened and dissipated just east of Highway 199 in the vicinity of Bulger Creek. |
| December 2012 | Thunderstorm Wind | Franklin | - | A tree was uprooted and fell across Highway 49, approximately 1 mile south of the Franklin Community. |
Nearest settlements
The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.
| Map | Place | Distance | Sheets |
|---|---|---|---|
| Clough | 2.1 miles | 9 | |
| Talasse (historical) | 2.8 miles | 9 | |
| Hornady | 3.5 miles | 9 | |
| Woodland | 3.9 miles | 11 | |
| Chehaw | 4.4 miles | 11 | |
| Broach Mill | 5.4 miles | 11 | |
| Milstead | 5.6 miles | 9 | |
| Golddust | 6.0 miles | 11 |
Elsewhere
Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.
| Wikipedia article on Franklin | An encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied. |
| Wikidata item Q66739 | The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0). |
Provenance
This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 156379. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.




