Editing Franklin, North Carolina (section)

===European settlement===
The city was named by European-American settlers for [[Jesse Franklin]], one of two state commissioners who surveyed and organized the town in 1820 as the county seat, for what would become Macon County in 1828. Jesse Franklin was later elected by the state legislature as the [[United States Senator]] from North Carolina (popular election of senators did not become custom until the 20th century). He was later elected and served North Carolina as its 20th governor. The city of Franklin was not formally incorporated until 1855.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.franklin-chamber.com/aboutfranklin/history.php|title=Franklin, NC History - Franklin Chamber of Commerce|website=franklin-chamber.com|access-date=April 20, 2018}}</ref>

In August 1923, Franklin's first hospital opened. Three years later the first permanent hospital in North Carolina west of [[Asheville, North Carolina|Asheville]] was constructed downtown and named Angel Brothers Hospital. It was renamed Angel Hospital in 1940 and expanded in 1957, 1977, and 1991. A new $68 million [[Angel Medical Center]] was built and opened in 2022 on the east side of town.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Lofthouse |first=Brittney |date=September 12, 2022 |title=Nearly 100 years after Dr. Angel launched Angel Medical Center, new hospital facility to hold ribbon cutting on Tuesday |url=https://thesouthernscoopnews.com/latest-news/nearly-100-years-after-dr-angel-launched-angel-medical-center-new-hospital-facility-to-hold-ribbon-cutting-on-tuesday |access-date=April 20, 2024 |website=The Southern Scoop |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1946, the people of Franklin raised money to buy the site of Nikwasi Mound and vowed to preserve it. Schoolchildren were among those who donated money to buy it from one of the many private owners who had held it since the Cherokee were forced from their historic town.{{citation needed|date=June 2021}}  In 2015, Franklin transferred title to the mound to the Nikwasi Initiative, a partnership among the Town of Franklin, Macon County, the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians and Mainspring Conservation Trust. The Initiative plans to develop the site as an historical and cultural site, including a museum in a building adjacent to the mound.<ref>https://www.citizen-times.com/story/news/local/2019/12/01/nikwasi-mound-franklins-oldest-structure-become-its-newest-attraction/4332182002/</ref>