After the demolition of the McMynn Building in 1975, the Walden program moved into a then-vacant Franklin School Building at 1012 Center Street, between the city's Midtown and School Section neighborhoods. The original part of this building (the Franklin Elementary School Building), making up what would be known as the "West Wing", was constructed in September 1869 or January 1870, and consisted of six rooms in a two-story building. This school was first known as the Third Ward grammar school, but within its first year the city changed its ward boundaries and it became the Sixth Ward grammar school. The first expansion to this building was made in 1899, doubling its capacity by adjoining an identical six-room structure, and when the school reopened in September it was renamed Franklin school. The school was further expanded with the construction of a new wing opened in 1921, where the new Franklin Junior High School was located alongside Franklin Elementary School. These wings are connected by a breezeway, frequently used as an alternate entrance for students attending after-school activities. The junior high school at Franklin closed in June 1966, in part because African-Americans were overly concentrated at the school. The Franklin Elementary School closed at the end of the 1974-1975 school year, and the Walden program moved into the building the following year.