County of statue: Franklin County
Location of statue: S. Church St. side, courthouse lawn, Union
Artist:
Date erected: 2010
"Franklin County is part of the St. Louis Metropolitan Area. The Missouri River runs along the northern border of the county. The 27,000 square foot County Courthouse building involved renovating and upgrading the historical site for ADA compliance. Part of the Americans with Disabilities Act improvements needed were additional ramps to the main entrance on the east side of the building. The two ramps now provide direct access to the County Judicial Center and County Government Center from the main entrance and keep the focal point on the existing renovated Franklin County Historical Courthouse. The historic courtroom located in the courthouse has been returned to its original condition. The renovation maintained the existing separate entrance doors which keep the separation of clientele to each department.
The County Government Center is located on the Southeast corner and the County Judicial Center is located on the Northeast corner of the County Courthouse. Three flagpoles were placed at the east entrance, one for the U.S., Missouri, and Franklin County flags. The county is named after Founding Father Benjamin Franklin and a Benjamin Franklin statue sits on the grounds as well. The renovation of Franklin County’s historic courthouse was completed in fall 2010 as the third and final project." ~ Cochran Engineering
"The statue was put in as part of the restoration of the old courthouse in 2010, Hillhouse noted." ~ emissourian
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
"Benjamin Franklin was born in Boston on January 17, 1706. He was the tenth son of soap maker, Josiah Franklin. Benjamin's mother was Abiah Folger, the second wife of Josiah. In all, Josiah would father 17 children.
"Josiah intended for Benjamin to enter into the clergy. However, Josiah could only afford to send his son to school for one year and clergymen needed years of schooling. But, as young Benjamin loved to read he had him apprenticed to his brother James, who was a printer. After helping James compose pamphlets and set type which was grueling work, 12-year-old Benjamin would sell their products in the streets.
"Apprentice Printer
When Benjamin was 15 his brother started The New England Courant the first "newspaper" in Boston. Though there were two papers in the city before James's Courant, they only reprinted news from abroad. James's paper carried articles, opinion pieces written by James's friends, advertisements, and news of ship schedules.
"Running away was illegal. In early America, people all had to have a place in society and runaways did not fit in anywhere. Regardless Ben took a boat to New York where he hoped to find work as a printer. He didn't, and walked across New Jersey, finally arriving in Philadelphia via a boat ride. After debarking, he used the last of his money to buy some rolls. He was wet, disheveled, and messy when his future wife, Deborah Read, saw him on that day, October, 6, 1723. She thought him odd-looking, never dreaming that seven years later they would be married.
"Franklin found work as an apprentice printer. He did so well that the governor of Pennsylvania promised to set him up in business for himself if young Franklin would just go to London to buy fonts and printing equipment. Franklin did go to London, but the governor reneged on his promise and Benjamin was forced to spend several months in England doing print work.
"But Franklin thrived on work. In 1733 he started publishing Poor Richard's Almanack. Almanacs of the era were printed annually, and contained things like weather reports, recipes, predictions and homilies. Franklin published his almanac under the guise of a man named Richard Saunders, a poor man who needed money to take care of his carping wife. What distinguished Franklin's almanac were his witty aphorisms and lively writing. Many of the famous phrases associated with Franklin, such as, "A penny saved is a penny earned" come from Poor Richard.
"Politics became more of an active interest for Franklin in the 1750s. In 1757, he went to England to represent Pennsylvania in its fight with the descendants of the Penn family over who should represent the Colony. He remained in England to 1775, as a Colonial representative not only of Pennsylvania, but of Georgia, New Jersey and Massachusetts as well.
"Early in his time abroad, Franklin considered himself a loyal Englishman. England had many of the amenities that America lacked. The country also had fine thinkers, theater, witty conversation — things in short supply in America. He kept asking Deborah to come visit him in England. He had thoughts of staying there permanently, but she was afraid of traveling by ship.
He started working actively for Independence. He naturally thought his son William, now the Royal governor of New Jersey, would agree with his views. William did not. William remained a Loyal Englishman. This caused a rift between father and son which was never healed.
Franklin was elected to the Second Continental Congress and worked on a committee of five that helped to draft the Declaration of Independence. Though much of the writing is Thomas Jefferson's, much of the contribution is Franklin's. In 1776 Franklin signed the Declaration, and afterward sailed to France as an ambassador to the Court of Louis XVI." ~ US History