AREA HISTORY:  Franklintown, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2006.  All rights reserved.
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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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FRANKLINTOWN – Page 662

This village is delightfully situated in the eastern corner of Franklin Township, with a 
commanding view of four townships:  Warrington, Carroll, Washington and Franklin, all of which 
meet at a point, a short distance east of the town.  Early in the present century, William Butt 
and Jacob Schultz conducted a store here, and kept a tavern on the site of the town.  In the 
year 1813 a tract of land was surveyed and laid out in streets, and 186 lots.  It being located 
on the road leading from Harrisburg to Baltimore, the main highway, sixty-one feet wide, was 
called Baltimore Street.  The two running north and south parallel with it, were named Water 
and Church Streets.  The three facing at right-angles to these were denominated North, Spring 
and South Streets.  The town of Dillsburg, two miles north of this point, had already become a 
business center.  The two villages were likely to become rivals.  In order to sell the lots off 
rapidly, the founders of the town, Butt & Schultz, instituted a lottery, and sold the tickets 
at $30.  There were no blanks; each one drew a lot.  A ticket for the store, valued at $1,000, 
and building in which it was kept, was included in the number.  The “wheel of fortune” turned 
to the original owners the much coveted prize, and they continued the mercantile business in 
the same house.  Probably owing to this incident, the town did not at first prosper.  The 
original name given was Franklin, but the disappointed persons who purchased tickets for $30, 
which was a considerable sum in those days for a small plat of ground, called it “Buttstown.”  
This appellation is not entirely forgotten.

In 1849, which was thirty-six years after the town was laid out, there were only a dozen 
houses.  About that time Capt. John Klugh purchased a number of vacant lots which had been 
drawn at the time of the lottery.  He built some houses, sold some lots and encouraged 
building.  The town then continued to grow.