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 new type of walk-up window as well
as the bank credit card, eventually becoming the 18th-largest bank in
the United States. A native son orbited the earth on the space shuttle.