By 1859, the pretty public square in the center of town had already been cleared of unwanted stumps, but with plenty of elms left to spread their dappled green shade over anyone strolling across to Elk Street from the United States Hotel or the courthouse. As the county seat, Franklin already had a population of 936, and a settled, respectable air. It looked rather disdainfully on hovel heaps like Cornplanter, six miles up the Allegheny. As a mark of cosmopolitan elegance, Franklinites could even rent a long-trotting sulky at Pinney's Carriage Repository. Several daughters of local merchants and lawyers went to Olome Institute for Young Ladies at Canonsburg, which cost $56.50 a term, with pew rent seventy-five cents extra, and "Each lady will find her own light."

Jimmy Lamberton, one of the half-dozen dry goods merchants in town, advertised such citified ware s as Fancy Cold Taffeta Eugenie, Black Shotted Silks and Lace Vizettes, along with Curry Combs. He enticed farmers in by announcing, "Highest Prices Paid for Sheep Pelts." Jimmy was a fine figure of an Irishman, flamboyant as a shamrock, with the shiniest silk hat and fastest twirling cane around. It is claimed that when he first came to Franklin, he pointed his cane at a turtle ambling along in the mud and roared, "Shure, and what manner of country is this, where a cow turd walks?"

--from The Great Oildorado (1959)