Residents established Franklin School by the 1890s, teaching grades 1–11 of white students. By the mid-1930s, the upper grades had been moved to another facility, and it held grades 1-6. Northern and southern classrooms were adjoined by a common auditorium. The school's original water source was a spring near the buildings. A well was later dug in the front yard of the school, with a hand pump to get water. Heat was provided by a wood-burning potbelly stove. Each student brought a stick of wood every morning to burn in the stove.