Benjamin Franklin, Franklin Public Library - Franklin, MA - Statues of Historic Figures on Waymarking.com

In Franklin, at the Franklin Public Library, is a bronze statue of Benjamin Franklin, who the town is named after, and the public library houses some of his books.

The statue is located on the left side of the grounds of the library (when facing the front entrance on Main Street). It is surrounded by a brick courtyard with names engraved in many of the bricks. The statue is bronze, sitting on a pink-red rock base. The base has the following inscription on the front:

"Benjamin Franklin
1706 - 1790
Franklin, Massachusetts
The first town named after Ben
"Sense being preferable to sound""

The figure is roughly life-sized and is shown sitting on a rock, reading a book. The artist mark is on the back on the stone, which says Robert Shure, 2000.

Benjamin Franklin is well known over the world. He was a signer of the Declaration of Independence for the 13 colonies that would become the United States of America. He was a diplomat who spent time in Europe, especially France. He was also an important amateur scientist who is best known for his experiments in electricity. He also was a printer, and among his printings, he is known for his "Poor Richard's Almanac."

The town of Franklin named itself after Ben Franklin in 1778. They wrote to him and hoped that he could provide them with a bell, but Ben sent a portion of his collection of books, instead, saying in his reply that "sense was preferable to sound." The town debated on how these books should be made available and decided in town meeting that they should be available freely to all the citizens of town, and, thus, the Franklin Public Library was begun. The books are on display within the library, today.

Come see the statue and the books!

URL of the statue: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
You must have visited the site in person, not online.

Recent Visits/Logs:

Date Logged Log User Rating   07/11/2014 bender2014 visited it