Franklin, Michigan  Franklin is a village in Southfield Township, Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 3,150 at the 2010 census. The community is known for large, estate-style homes. The downtown was designated as an historic district, the first in Michigan, and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1969. A nearby cider mill is among many significant properties. The community was founded in 1825 by Elijah Bullock and other European-American settlers; it was named after Benjamin Franklin, a Founding Father of the United States, in 1831. By 1830, a business district formed. The village has a unique collection of historical structures in original condition that is unusual for suburban Detroit. The village was incorporated in 1953. In 1960 a historical marker was erected that reads:  "FRANKLIN VILLAGE Founded in 1824-1825, Franklin received its present name in 1828. First postmaster was Dr. Ebenezer Raynale, state legislator and physician. The William Huston store, opened in 1830, was the forerunner of a business center that later included the famous Broughton Wagon Shop, the Van Every Mills, now Ye Olde Cider Mill; several taverns, two distilleries, and two churches. The village also was a station on the Underground Railroad. Franklin still has the appearance and atmosphere of an early Michigan village." Another marker was installed in front of Franklin Village School:  "Franklin Village School - Michigan's Territorial Council passed a law in 1827 requiring every township with fifty or more inhabitants to establish a school. Thus the following year, the first school in Southfield Township was erected in Franklin Village. Sophie Gotie taught twenty-nine students in a log schoolhouse located near the still extant house of early settler Daniel Broughton. Franklin village built a new school in 1845 at the foot of School Hill on property deeded by Winthrop Worthings. On this site in 1869 a third school was constructed on land given by wealthy postmaster A.A. Rust. After that building burned in 1922, the village erected the present school on this same location. The Franklin School District No. 3, Southfield Township, joined the Birmingham Public Schools in 1945." This building closed as a public school in 1979. In 1988, members of Metro Detroit's Muslim community bought the building and adapted it as Huda School and Montessori, a K-8 Islamic parochial school.