Top right: Misguided energy conservation efforts have led, as at many historic Boise schools, to the alteration of Franklin’s historic windows, but classically inspired architectural motifs exhibited above the primary doorway are still intact. Bottom right: Historical photo of original Franklin School from the Idaho State Historical Society.
Franklin Elementary, like Cole, was once an independent school district graduating students until annexation in 1949. This was the second of two buildings at the site constructed to serve the community on the Boise Bench in 1926 and designed by Tourtellotte and Hummel. Further construction in 1936 and 1949 resulted in the present complex.
This site too will be declared surplus and sold under the present plan. Options for continued use of the site most likely also involve demolition and redevelopment.