Eyesore Moved From Franklin Battlefield

By Gregory L Wade · Originally published October 2016 · p. 16

FRANKLIN, TENN.—The reclaiming of the Battle of Franklin battlefield took another giant step when a relic of the city’s past was recently demolished. The old Franklin High School gym, the only part of the old school left standing after a fire destroyed the rest of the complex in 1956, had been used by civic groups and youth leagues until 2007. Standing unused just north of the Carter House which was the epicenter of the November 30, 1864 Battle of Franklin, the building had once been considered for rehab to be used as a battlefield visitors center. Eric Jacobson, Chief Executive of the Battle of Franklin Trust (BOFT), the organization that manages the site, acknowledged that the building held “great memories for a lot of people” He added that for several years plans changed back and forth, and it was finally recommended to go ahead and take down the deteriorating structure. There is a $3.2-million-dollar master plan that would no longer include using the gym which had become a safety and security problem with vandals destroying a lot of the interior.

During the peak of the 1864 battle, Confederates under General John Bell Hood made it as far as the Carter House on the Columbia Pike and briefly pierced the federal lines. General Emerson Opdycke had placed his men to the rear of the main federal lines just north of the Carter House. His brigade had been the last of the federal forces to enter Franklin after being pursued by Hood’s Army from Spring Hill and was placed in reserve. While Opdycke did not anticipate an attack, when he saw things going badly he ordered his men into the gap in the line and is widely given credit for plugging the break and stopping the Confederate surge. The removal of the gym and the planned interpretation brings part of the ground Opdycke charged across into the evolving Carter Hill Battlefield Park. A few have expressed dismay at the buildings removal as the last vestige of the old high school but most see it as a positive. Kevin Duks, a lifelong resident of Franklin, noted the condition of the gym and said its removal “is a big win for Franklin and battlefield preservationists.” He added he often wondered when the “old building would be removed since it had become an eyesore.” The Carter House and adjoining property have been owned by the state of Tennessee since the 1950’s, and the state provided the funding to demolish the building. Tennessee House Representative Charles Sargent led the effort to place $500,000 in funding in the 2016-2016 Tennessee general budget for the demolition and cleanup of the site.

Since 2005 Franklin preservation leaders have led the effort to recover the core of the Franklin battlefield, once considered all but lost. About twenty acres in the Columbia Pike area around the Carter House farm have been preserved and are now part of the Franklin Park System while a fully interpreted 110 acres known as the Eastern Flank Battlefield is also part of the city’s park system.