The Journey to Franklin

Today’s Flyover People column as seen in The Emporia Gazette:

Charles and Ina Kay Zimmerman of Olathe head for Franklin after making purchases at the nearby Arma Market.

THE JOURNEY TO FRANKLIN

With the car headed for Crawford County, we spotted two herds of buffalo, drove through Waverly as it prepared for Ohio Days, and enjoyed an outstanding batch of onion rings.

On July 10, Dave and I zigzagged south and east on our way to a Kansas Explorers Club event in the small community of Franklin.

In Welda, a fleet of bicyclists had stopped for a break along the Prairie Spirit Rail Trail which runs from Ottawa to Iola. Also in Welda, we photographed a closed Valentine diner. The old metal diner was attached to a wooden building and appeared to have had past lives as a steakhouse and antique shop.

“You aren’t from around here, are you?” the waiter, a pleasant young man, asked when he took our order in the Country Diner in Colony. Besides the fact that he didn’t recognize us, we had asked to see menus. Locals know the menu by heart.

Colony’s Country Diner makes a good hand-pattied hamburger and the onion rings were the best I’d ever had.

When we cruised through Mildred in northern Allen County, I was surprised to find a grocery store with a rather large inventory for a town of 35. We visited with the clerk, purchased a couple items, and then returned to U.S. 59.

Marilyn Colgin, clerk at Charlie Brown’s Market in Mildred

Beginning in 2005, Kansas Explorers Club members have gathered annually for a “Happening” in small towns in each of the six regions of Kansas. Explorer Jay Yoder of Partridge has been the main organizer of these events.

Happenings have been held in Marquette, Lucas, Westmoreland, Leoti, Wallace and now Franklin. The events give Explorers an opportunity to meet each other and to share stories of things they’ve discovered in Kansas, such as bits of history, a fascinating stone bridge, a small-town bakery or other hidden treasures.

On their way to these gatherings, Explorers are encouraged to support local communities in various ways: shopping, dining, buying gas and postage stamps. The Explorers also have a tradition of purchasing cleaning supplies or paper goods along the way for the host of the event, in this case the Franklin Community Center.

We ran into a couple of Explorers in the Arma Market. Charles and Ina Kay Zimmerman, of Olathe, rode to Franklin on their motorcycle. They have been exploring Kansas since 1994 when they decided to visit every town in Kansas (627 of them) as well as hundreds of unincorporated communities and any ghost towns they could find. They’ve seen Kansas in its entirety.

Upon our arrival at the Franklin Community Center, a local accordion player, Johnnie Zibert, entertained the group of about 60 Explorers with polka music.

Area residents offered information about Franklin, which is unincorporated but has been an established community for more than 100 years.

Phyllis Bitner, of nearby Arma, told Explorers, “In 2003, a tornado came through here, and literally you can still see where it came through, and just wiped out much of the community.”

The storm destroyed the town’s community building. “When that tornado hit, everyone knew we needed a community center if we were going to come back,” Bitner said.

So they built a new center. The folks of Franklin also created a nice park with a playground and picnic area. Historical artifacts from the town have been preserved in the park.

“In the park we have a storm siren that (actor) Paul Newman donated the money to and that’s another long story,” Bitner said.

After the meeting, we Explorers walked across the street to have our photograph taken on the sidewalk.

The famous sidewalk in Franklin

Now, it’s not just any old sidewalk. The sidewalk is a winner in the Kansas Sampler Foundation’s 8 Wonders of Kansas Customs contest, and it’s also on the National Register of Historic Places. Franklin was a booming town in the early 1900s, but when the mining industry declined, Franklin’s school closed. A 1.7-mile sidewalk between the two towns was built in 1936 so that Franklin kids could walk safely to the Arma school.

The gathering ended, but not the exploring. Dave and I headed for Frontenac and later we found ourselves at a table in one of the famous chicken restaurants in Crawford County.

Copyright 2010 ~ Cheryl Unruh

Check out Kansas Explorer Frank Thompson’s report of his adventures that day: Exploring Crawford County.

KAKE’s Larry Hatteberg visited Charlie Brown’s Market in Mildred and did a TV segment featuring Mike Becker.