Addresses for County Courthouse and IRAD:

Established:		January 2, 1818 (Laws, 1817/18, p. 11)
Origin of the name of the county:
	Named for Benjamin Franklin, philosopher, statesman, diplomatist, author, printer, a member of the Continental Congress, Ambassador to France, and (before the Revolution) Deputy Postmaster General of the British Colonies in America.
Present area, or parts of it, formerly included in:
	1815–1818	White
	1812–1818	Gallatin
	1795–1813	Randolph
	1790–1795	Knox, Northwest Territory
County Seats:
	1818–1821	Shawneetown–Kaskaskia Road, at Moses Garrett’s tavern.
	1821–1841	Frankfort
	1841–	Benton
History of county governing board:
	1818–1819	Justices’ Court
	1819–1849	County Commissioners’ Court
	1849–1871	County Court
	1872–1875	County Board of Supervisors
	1875–1876	Board of County Commissioners
	1876–1880	County Board of Supervisors
	1880–1885	Board of County Commissioners
	1885–	County Board of Supervisors
Documented Record Losses
	November 18, 1843—Fire		Most records lost (1818–1843).
Township Government
	Adopted:	November 7, 1871
	Discontinued:	November 3, 1874
	Adopted:	November 2, 1875—Divided into 9 townships (see notes below).
	Discontinued:	November 1879
	Adopted:	November 4, 1884
Township Names:
	Barren	Part of Goode under 1875 organization.
	Benton
	Browning	Part of Benton under 1875 organization.
	Cave
	Denning	Named Town Mount under 1871 organization; part of Frankfort under 1875 organization.
	Eastern
	Ewing
	Frankfort
	Goode
	Northern
	Six Mile	Named Six Mile Prairie under 1871 organization.
	Tyrone