Doug Morgan, historian in Lima, New York contacted Ischua Valley Historical Society this past year. He said that while they were cleaning out their basement they discovered a box of glass slides. Most of them were from the Franklinville area. He forwarded some of the pictures. Included in these slides was this very old picture. Could this be what Franklinville looked like about 1860? We do not have any pictures of what the village looked like at that period of time.

The clothing worn by the people seems to date from the Civil War era - especially the men's hats and the women's dresses. At that time the buildings were made of wood. Many of them were destroyed over the years by fire. The brick buildings on the Main Street and Park Square date back to the late 1880's. This picture is from an earlier time.

It would be exciting if we could verify that this was a picture of Franklinville. We plan to take this picture to Buffalo State, together with our huge collection of plates donated to us by the Mong Family. The College has a Photography Department and they also work in historical conservation. Perhaps we can enlarge the image to see if we can see any names on the buildings.

This could be an incredible historical find!