Old Exchange Hotel - Corner Liberty and Thirteenth

Very early in Franklin's development, this corner was of great importance to residents and travelers. In the 1820s John Lupher had a blacksmith shop here and William Bennett was the proprietor of a rooming establishment. The first hotel was a four-story frame building that opened in 1866 and destroyed by fire in 1870. May of 1871 saw the opening of a new brick Exchange Hotel - just in time for the September visit of President Ulysses S. Grant and family as they toured the Venango County oil regions. The train that brought them here was colorfully decorated and hundreds of people gathered to greet the President. Carriages brought the family to the Exchange where they stayed overnight before leaving the next day on a special train for Pittsburgh. This hotel was closed on May 15, 1964 making way for the existing bank building.

~Please Continue on 13th Street to City Hall~