Franklin Park — Attraction in Washington

What is now Franklin Square was near the center of the Hempstead Plains, and used as grazing land, and later farmland, by the first white settlers. The southern portion included oak and dogwood forests.

In late 1643, Robert Fordham and John Carman made a treaty with members of the Massapequak, Mericoke, Matinecock and Rockaway tribes to buy roughly 100 square miles upon which they intended to start a new settlement. They purchased this tract, including much of what are now the towns of Hempstead and North Hempstead. The source of the name "Franklin Square" is unclear. It has been speculated that the name honors Benjamin Franklin, but he had no historical connection to the area. It has been suggested that it was named for some now-forgotten local settler or notable.

In 1790, George Washington passed through the town while touring Long Island. He wrote in his diary that the area was "entirely treeless except for a few scraggly fruit trees." Walt Whitman spent three months in the spring of 1840 as the schoolmaster of the Trimming Square school district, in the area where Franklin Square, Garden City South and West Hempstead intersect.

In 1852, one Louis Schroerer built a hotel near a tollgate (by what is now Arden Boulevard) of the Hempstead-Jamaica Turnpike (toll road). The hotel attracted an increasing number of visitors and immigrants (the latter often German) from New York City to the formerly rural hamlet. Population grew steadily until the sudden intensified surge of suburbanization into post-World War II Long Island reached the village. By 1952, the farms were all gone, replaced by newly built houses full of emigrants from nearby New York City.[7] Franklin Square is part of the Town of Hempstead and is represented by 3rd District Council Member, Councilman Bruce Blakeman.

Franklin National Bank Franklin Square was the home of the Franklin National Bank, once the nation's 20th largest bank. Under the leadership of Arthur T. Roth, the Franklin National Bank introduced many banking innovations, such as the bank credit card, the drive up teller window (1950), junior savings accounts (1947), and a no-smoking policy on banking floors (1958).

On October 8, 1974, the Franklin National Bank was declared insolvent due to mismanagement and fraud, involving losses in foreign currency speculation and poor loan policies. This caused massive losses for its stockholders, resulted in jail and disgrace for its management; Italian financier and CEO Michele Sindona was poisoned in his cell in 1986,[8] while serving a life-sentence for his part in this affair. It was at the time the largest bank failure in the history of the country, and forced US banking policymakers to reexamine and reassess regulation of international banking.

The building was listed on the National Register of Historic...

Franklin Square Park is a park caught between two worlds. The first world is one where the largest homeless population of DC live. Dozens and dozens of men and women who all have a fascinating story and who know our city better than anyone, call Franklin Square Park their home. With all their belongings, they occupy many of the benches of the park. They are good people. I recommend grabbing two lunches and joining one for a bite to eat to hear their stories.

The other world is the elite of DC. With buildings nearby that house DC's finest like The Washington Post, Franklin Square Par attracts a dozen food trucks for lunch during the week day. The city provides free wifi, meeting space, and even picnic blankets for people to enjoy by the large fountain in the middle of the park.

It's a world caught between two places, but it's worth...

A custodial staff member of the park thought it was opportune to interrupt my outing to tell me how I’m supposed to sit at the park, that I “can’t lay on the benches.”

Apparently laying strewn on the ground across a picnic blanket is fine. Blaring music on a speaker is fine.

Unnecessarily intrusive. I pay DC taxes, so I ought to be able to sit and lay on the public amenities I pay for in the way my body wants to.

I hadn’t any shopping cart full of soiled clothes with me, no tent, I’m not unkept or dirty, so city officials out to train their staff to look for context clues.

Unacceptable. I won’t be back so long as the red shirt goons continue to mill around feeling oh so entitled to interrupt what WAS a...