First settled in the 1600s, the present-day village of Franklin Square
developed as a German-speaking farming community in the late
1800s. The fertile farmland of Franklin Square supplied New York City
with all types of fresh produce into the mid-20th century, when waves
of suburban growth transformed fields into residential neighborhoods.
Franklin Square's rich history exemplifies the larger trends in
America's history. George Washington visited in 1790, and the poet
Walt Whitman taught in the local school in 1840. The Franklin
Square National Bank invented a...