The Reilly Hotel on the Franktown Road
In the mass of material William Pattie and Christopher Forbes piled up historically was a pamphlet written by Rev. Mr. Buchanan the first Presbyterian minister in Beckwith. Mr. Pattie therein discovered the manner in which Franktown got its name.
The Perth Courier in 1922 stated that Sir Francis Bondhead and the Duke of Richmond with their retinues were passing from Perth to Ottawa over the unorganized highway. They halted about midway at a glade which seemed to possess all the elements of beauty, but as a spot as yet un-named, un-honored and unknown. The distinguished travelers thought it a pity to pass it by and leave no sign in the way of an official cognomen to mark their call. Several bright appellations were struck from the mint of the cognitions. Finally the Duke said to the governor “We will name it for you, Sir Francis, but in place of Francis town we will say Franktown.”
Franktown was nailed to the glade, and though it never reached the glory painted by the noble imperialists it has never forgotten that Van Amberg’s Circus bivouacked there one day because both Perth and Carleton Place were too small affairs to entertain so massive an establishment. It was probably also on the same trek when the Duke of Richmond was bitten by his pet fox and rabies developed and he slipped away and was drowned in the river as he sought to quench is burning thirst. Well that’s what the fox said.
Franktown Historical Fact
1886
Indians who had camped for the winter at Franktown, selling baskets through the district, struck their tents and returned to the St. Regis Reserve
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