 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.