Franklin High School (Reisterstown, Maryland)
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Franklin High School is a public
high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...
located in
Reisterstown, Maryland Reisterstown is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in Baltimore County, Maryland, United States. As of the 2010 census, it had a population of 25,968. Founded by German immigrant John Reister in 1758, Reisterstown is located ...
, United States, an old historic town in the now northwestern suburbs of the modern
City of Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
in
Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...
,
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
. It is in the Baltimore County Public Schools system.


Background

Currently located in Reisterstown near the intersection of Franklin Boulevard and
Reisterstown Road Maryland Route 140 (MD 140) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Maryland. The route runs from U.S. Route 1 (US 1) and US 40 Truck in Baltimore northwest to the Pennsylvania border, where the road continues into that state as Pennsylvania Ro ...
, Franklin High has a long history. It was established on January 10, 1821 as the "Franklin Academy", a private school.Archives of Maryland Online
/ref> The school went public in 1848, but wasn't completely under public control until 1874. Its name was then temporarily changed to the "Reisterstown High School". By 1896, the name of the school was changed back to reflect its earlier heritage, that of "Franklin High School". It is to be considered the oldest high school in the now Baltimore County Public Schools system, and one of the oldest in the Baltimore metropolitan area and the State. Before this time, in most of the county, prospective students, who passed the level of grammar (or elementary school) were able to travel into the central
City of Baltimore Baltimore ( , locally: or ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland, fourth most populous city in the Mid-Atlantic, and the 30th most populous city in the United States with a population of 585,708 in 2020. Baltimore was ...
if they wanted to continue on into public high schools. The more advanced and heavily populated City had been pushed by progressive and enlightened citizens and voters who went to the
Maryland General Assembly The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber ...
which authorized the Baltimore City government in 1825 to establish a system of free public education and schools. This was finally begun by the resolutions and ordinances of the Baltimore City Council and signed by the Mayor of Baltimore in 1829, which were the first in the State. Four grammar schools were initially established that year, two in each side of the city, with one for boys and one for girls. Within a few more years, additional grammar schools were created in various corners of town. Ten years later, in March 1839, the city council authorized the establishment of a new higher type of school, which had already been established in
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and
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, and soon spread throughout their respective states of
Massachusetts Massachusetts (Massachusett: ''Muhsachuweesut Massachusett_writing_systems.html" ;"title="nowiki/> məhswatʃəwiːsət.html" ;"title="Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət">Massachusett writing systems">məhswatʃəwiːsət'' En ...
and
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, that of the "Public High School".. In October 1839, the "High School" for Baltimore opened with 46 boy students and one teacher/professor in a rented townhouse on Courtland Street (now St. Paul Street and Place) near East Saratoga Streets (now the location of "Preston Gardens" and nearby Mercy Hospital, now Mercy Medical Center) The High School moved several times in its first five years, and finally settled and went through three major sites/buildings in its now 175-year history. It changed names too, first becoming the "Male High School" when two additional public high schools for females were established in 1844, a few months apart in opposites sides of the city, known as
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and
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. In the 1850s, the Male High School became known as the "Central High School of Baltimore", until 1866, when the City Council authorized its final name of the " Baltimore City College" (B.C.C. or "City College" or "City"). For a number of decades in the late 19th century, the now B.C.C. served as both high school and an early sort of "junior" or "community college". Its curriculum, faculty and academic standards were much more advanced than most of today's high schools although only a small percentage of the teen-age population were able to go because of poverty or work conditions before the era of "compulsory education" school laws. Many students, however, from the county's rural farms and villages traveled by horseback, horse and buggy or cart, wagon, or the new "streetcar" system, with its rails reaching out all over the area by the early 20th century, when they were electrified and rode on rails. The math-science and engineering/technical high school was established a half-century later in 1883, as he "Baltimore Manual Training School", which was later changed a decade later to its current famous name, the "
Baltimore Polytechnic Institute The Baltimore Polytechnic Institute, colloquially referred to as BPI, Poly, and The Institute, is a U.S. public high school founded in 1883. Established as an all-male manual trade / vocational school by the Baltimore City Council and the Balti ...
" ("Poly" or BPI). A "Colored" High School and Grammar School" was also finally established in 1883 after a long battle from the city's large Afro-American population which had gotten an earlier advance of some grammar public schools for their people after 1865, expanding the small, racially segregated school system, although at first with white teachers. Another decade of agitation was required before "colored" teachers were admitted to the BCPS. Later by 1925, the "Colored High School" was renamed " Frederick Douglass High School", then located in West Baltimore at several locations since the founding then settling in at Carey and Baker Streets. It was joined after 1937 by " Paul Laurence Dunbar Community High School" in East Baltimore and Orleans Street near North Central Avenue. Around 1925, also a "Colored" Vocational High School was started in several "hand-me-down" buildings until 1955 when a new, well-equipped structure was built at Presstman Street near North Bentalou Street, also in West Baltimore for the newly renamed " George Washington Carver Vocational-Technical High School". The few African-American students from Baltimore County, who could afford the carfare or somehow otherwise get to the city, had to attend the city's "Negro" high schools: Douglass, Dunbar or Carver all the way until the 1930s and 1940s until their own "George Washington Carver High School" in Towson was established for the county's blacks, generally then concentrated in East Towson or several other small villages scattered around the county.
Baltimore County Baltimore County ( , locally: or ) is the third-most populous county in the U.S. state of Maryland and is part of the Baltimore metropolitan area. Baltimore County (which partially surrounds, though does not include, the independent City of ...
was established in 1659 and originally included most of northeast Maryland. Eventually over the next two centuries, several other counties had been cut off and separated, including: Harford,
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, Carroll, and Howard It had two
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
s in the late 1600s and early 1700s known as "Old Baltimore" on the Bush River, near the
Chesapeake Bay The Chesapeake Bay ( ) is the largest estuary in the United States. The Bay is located in the Mid-Atlantic region and is primarily separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Delmarva Peninsula (including the parts: the Eastern Shore of Maryland / ...
, (in modern Harford County). Then Joppa, in northeastern Baltimore County. The City which had been founded earlier in 1729 as "Baltimore Town", and incorporated as a city in 1797, (following the merger of three small villages: "Baltimore Town", "Jones' Town" and "Fell's Point"). Baltimore City had served as the third
county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US st ...
with both city and county courts, sheriffs and single joint city/county jail, from 1767 to 1851, whereupon with the adoption that year of the
Maryland Constitution of 1851 The Maryland Constitution of 1851 was the second constitution of the U.S. state of Maryland following the revolution, replacing the Constitution of 1776. The primary reason for the new constitution was a need to re-apportion Maryland's legislature ...
, Baltimore City was separated and became an independent city with the same status as the other 23 counties of State of Maryland. The county seat was then chosen to be Towsontown after a referendum/election by the voters in 1853. Construction of a new courthouse, (the center part of the present County Courts complex) began in 1854 with also a county jail and an "almshouse" required by constitutional mandate. The original Franklin Academy private school building was built on Cockeysmill Road, where the Reisterstown branch of the
Baltimore County Public Library Baltimore County Public Library (BCPL), established in 1948, is a public library system located in central Maryland and headquartered in Towson, MarylandMaryland State Archivesbr>Baltimore County, Maryland: Public Library September 29, 2015. B ...
is now located. In 1905, a new building was built for the public high school, leaving the old Academy building to be used for the elementary school, the now developing system of the Baltimore County Public Schools. An additional building was built in 1914, and another in 1930 to house the growing student population. Of these three buildings, only the 1914/1930 brick structure still stands on Main Street in Reisterstown, currently housing Franklin Middle School. Franklin High School was moved to a more modern building in 1960 about a mile down the road, where it remains to this day. Since 1960, two additions have been built, the most recent in 2000 to deal with the increasing severe overcrowding.History of Franklin High School
. Franklin High School website.


Academics

Franklin High school received a 51.6 out of a possible 90 points (57%) on the 2018-2019 Maryland State Department of Education Report Card and received a 3 out of 5 star rating, ranking in the 42nd percentile among all Maryland schools.


Students

The 2019–2020 enrollment at Franklin High School was 1511 students.


Athletics

Franklin High School has won the following State Championships:


State Championships

Football *Class 3A 2013, 2014, 2018 Boys Basketball *Class B 1948 Girls Indoor Track *3A 2015, 2017, 2018 Wrestling *2A-1A 1999 Baseball *Class A 1985 Softball *Eugene Robertson Sportsmanship Award 2008


Notable alumni

* Nancy R. Stocksdale - Member of the
Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the legislature of the State of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House on State Circle in Annapolis, ...
. *
Moose Haas Bryan Edmund "Moose" Haas (born April 22, 1956) is a former professional baseball player who pitched in Major League Baseball (MLB) from 1976 to 1987. He appeared in the 1982 World Series as a member of the Milwaukee Brewers. Haas initially sig ...
- a former professional baseball player who pitched in the Major Leagues from 1976 to 1987. * Thomas Rowe Price Jr. - founder of the company T. Rowe Price * Amit Mehta - the first Asian American to serve as a US Federal Judge. *
Jean Worthley Jean Reese Worthley (February 23, 1925 – April 9, 2017) was an American naturalist. She hosted Maryland Public Broadcasting's children's television series '' Hodgepodge Lodge'' and co-hosted '' On Nature's Trail''. She also wrote ''The Complet ...
- naturalist and former host of Hodgepodge Lodge and On Nature's Trail.


References


External links

* {{authority control Public high schools in Maryland Baltimore County Public Schools Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools Reisterstown, Maryland