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.