Downtown Franklin spotlights historic architecture with contest

The local leaders in Franklin have found a new way to make the historic aspect of their downtown work for them -- host an Architecture ID contest.

Franklin officials took 20 up-close-and-personal pictures of parts of downtown buildings on Franklin Road just south of 14 Mile Road. The idea is to let people figure out where they came from and what building they belong to.

"What it does is it gets people up and walking around downtown looking for these photos," says Eddie Delbridge, main street director for Franklin.

The contest is part of National Historic Preservation Month and Oakland County's Main Street Oakland County program's efforts to get more people to utilize the county's downtowns.

"We're having a great time with this," Delbridge says. "The response we have been getting is incredible."

Franklin was one of the first communities in Michigan to establish a historic district. It was also the first community to take advantage of Michigan's historic district laws.

"They're very progressive," says Bob Donahue, program coordinator for Main Street Oakland County.

Source: Eddie Delbridge, Main Street director for Franklin and Bob Donahue, program coordinator for Main Street Oakland County
Writer: Jon Zemke

Downtown Franklin spotlights historic architecture with contest

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