by Daniel B. Pritchett (Author), Amanda Helen Schmitt (Author)
The Treaty of Prairie du Chein, which relocated the Potawatomi Indians and other local tribes west of the Mississippi River, created opportunities for settlement along the Des Plaines River. Several families began to farm on land that they purchased from Claude La Framboise, Alexander Robinson, and the State of Illinois. The totality of this land extended from Irving Park Road to Grand Avenue and west to Mannheim Road. The confluence of the first two railroads constructed in this area after the Civil War attracted a developer named Lesser Franklin. The German immigrant purchased and subdivided four farms and subsequently began the configuration of a village. Franklin Park was incorporated in 1892. The succeeding 50 years, showcased by two world wars and the Great Depression, shaped this town into the fourth-largest industrial community in Illinois, a title it still holds today.