The City of Franklin is steeped with a rich history of people, places, and events. The history spans from before the City was established in 1799, the Civil War and the Battle of Franklin, revitalization of the downtown core, and to today with the City being recognized by many sources as one of the best places to visit and live in the South. With all this history, it poses an important question of how do we keep the history we value intact and how to progress into modern times and continue to evolve?

In 2001, the Preservation Plan called out one of the top priorities within the community was balancing elements that the community wanted to retain that involved the character and identity while managing the pace, scale, and the impact of new development. Today the priority remains the same as the Board of Mayor and Aldermen have drafted an updated vision statement in the Spring of 2024: America's finest Hometown, driven by excellence, balancing preservation and progress.

With needing to balance the past and the future, the need to update the existing Preservation Plan is evident. The City's current Preservation Plan dates back to 2001, while a separate Franklin Battlefield Preservation Plan dates back to 2004. They are both 20+ years old and many of the goals and action items in both plans have been achieved. A historic preservation plan is the result of a process through which a community establishes its vision, goals, and priorities for the preservation of its historic resources. A historic preservation plan is a city planning document that will guide the city's historic preservation program and provide a roadmap to achieving its goals.

The Preservation Plan update will utilize a proactive approach to maintain the unique character that is seen throughout the City of Franklin. Preserving historic places (buildings, structures, objects, sites) highlights what's already valued in Franklin by both residents and visitors. A historic preservation plan is the result of a collaborative process to understand the current program, identify what works well and what can be improved, and form a vision, goals, and an action plan for historic preservation in a community.

The purpose of a community historic preservation plan is to clearly articulate the many ways in which the community's historic resources contribute to the city's well-being, to outline the preservation goals, and to develop a set of strategies that will help achieve those goals. With the update to the Preservation Plan, the goal is to cover a broad spectrum of preservation priorities and strategies, inclusive of Civil War and Battlefield-related preservation efforts and action items to create one comprehensive plan, rather than two separate plans.

This process will include extensive community and stakeholder engagement to update the priorities and to develop a set of strategies and action items intended to enhance and continue the success of Franklin's Preservation Program. The community is highly engaged and has shown support for historic preservation during the City's outreach for input in recent updates to Envision Franklin, the City's long-range plan.

An updated plan may reinforce growth management strategies by identifying areas that are appropriate for preservation through Historic Preservation Overlay expansion or character and diversified housing conservation through Neighborhood Conservation Overlay creation.