Franklin Square is a former industrial neighborhood, turned residential and commercial, in Syracuse, New York. Officially it is part of the larger Lakefront neighborhood, which in turn is one of Syracuse's 26 officially recognized neighborhoods.

History

The neighborhood sprang up as a result of the

salt industry Salt is a mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride (NaCl), a chemical compound belonging to the larger class of salts; salt in the form of a natural crystalline mineral is known as rock salt or halite. Salt is present in vast quantiti ...

in Syracuse. From 1797 to 1904 around 12 million tons of salt were produced in the area. After the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, with the salt industry on the decline, Franklin Square became an automobile production area. The H. H. Franklin Manufacturing Company, from which the neighborhood's name comes from, produced cars in this area from 1902 to 1934. Transmission producer New Process Gear had a factory on Franklin Square before they closed it and moved to the Syracuse suburb of DeWitt in 1961. Franklin Square also held manufacturing of handbags, textiles, telephone booths, and dried milk.

Redevelopment

By the 1980s nearly all of Franklin Square's industry had vanished. The Pyramid Companies began working to redevelop the square in 1987. They began by remaking an old factory for New Process Gear into office space. The company's head,

Robert Congel Robert Joseph Congel (July 6, 1935February 3, 2021) was an American real estate developer known for his foundation of Pyramid Companies and development of projects such as Destiny USA Destiny USA (stylized as destiny usa and also known by its fo ...

sold his last property in the area in 2013. The Pyramid Companies also developed the park in the center of Franklin Square, instead of paying taxes. This included adding a statue of

Benjamin Franklin Benjamin Franklin ( April 17, 1790) was an American polymath who was active as a writer, scientist, inventor, statesman, diplomat, printer, publisher, and political philosopher. Encyclopædia Britannica, Wood, 2021 Among the leading inte ...

and a fountain. The project to revitalize Franklin Square was studies as a "model project" in a 1991 article in ''Economic Development Review.''

References

Neighborhoods in Syracuse, New York Warehouse districts of the United States {{OnondagaCountyNY-geo-stub