Franklin has eye on the future while looking back, preserving its past

Yahoo

08-05-2025

FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WKRN) — Inside the Moore-Morris History and Culture Center of Williamson County, TN is an immersive re-creation of White's Tavern, which was inside the city's first inn. It was established in 1803 by pioneer Benjamin White.
'If you're here for a room, that will be 8 cents. If you need me to stead your horse, it will be 12; my boy will fetch 'em and take 'em out back,' said an actor portraying White, who appears as a hologram behind the bar.
You can also hear from other historical figures — including Freeman Thomas, who escaped slavery in Williamson County and joined the Union Army.
'This was the biggest thing that ever happened in my life,' said an actor portraying Thomas inside a portrait that seemed to suddenly come alive. 'I felt like a man with a uniform on and a gun in my hand.'
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'These living portraits are our main teaching tool here,' the center's managing director, Nat Taylor, said. 'What I like about them as a historian is that the words that they say — we pulled them right from primary sourced historical records.'
The building on Bridge Street was home to the county jail from 1905 until 1942; later, it was a restaurant and event venue. The non-profit Heritage Foundation of Williamson County purchased the building and opened the center in 2024 to share the area's rich stories with the community.
'It's clear Franklin really cares about its history and understanding it,' Taylor said.
'Franklin is a great mix of a historic community and a great preservation ethic of this beautiful historic downtown, but it's also a community that continues to grow and evolve,' Franklin City Administrator Eric Stuckey said.
Stuckey said that downtown is the difference maker in what sets the city apart and draws in new residents and visitors.
'It feels like home when you're here on these streets,' Stuckey said. 'It's not just any place in America. It is a special place, and people just naturally sense that. That's not an accident. It's been lovingly preserved over many years.'
Although it may seem like Franklin has grown exponentially, Stuckey said the city has had a consistent growth pattern since the 1980s.
'We've grown [by] right about 20,000 a decade, or 2,000 a year since that time frame,' Stuckey said. 'It's a sustainable, steady amount of growth.'
Franklin is home to major corporations including Nissan, Mitsubishi and Community Health Systems. In-N-Out Burger is set to open its regional headquarters next year.
Stuckey said the city focuses on land use planning to keep infrastructure and utility needs met. One of the biggest challenges is affordable housing.
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'It is both a community characteristic, but it's also an economic vitality component to have housing options for people at different stages in their career — different workers,' Stuckey said. 'We want to strive to do that; it's a hard issue. We don't have an easy solution, but we're continuing to work on it and think about it and look at ways that we can make that happen.'
Franklin is a city with an eye on the future while it also looks back and preserves its past.
'I think communities that really care about their history — it will only serve them for their future, so I think we're pretty well positioned here,' Taylor said.
For National Travel and Tourism Week, the Moore-Morris History and Culture Center is offering free admission through May 10. For more information, follow this link.
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