City of Franklin dedicates new names for downtown streets on eve of Juneteenth

Franklin became the ninth city in Tennessee to name a street after Martin Luther King Jr. when the city held a dedication Friday morning to rename Third Avenue North Extension after the Civil Rights leader.

At the same time, city leaders and guests dedicated the naming of the entrance road to the “Hill property,” designated as the future home of affordable housing, as A.N.C. Williams Way after the lifelong Franklin resident who was born into slavery and opened the first African American business in downtown Franklin in 1863.

The ceremony was held at the Bicentennial Park where Third Avenue North intersects at Hillsboro Road.

“This is a great day for our city,” Derrick Solomon, executive director of the Hard Bargain Association, said before the ceremony began. “Our forefathers have fought and shed blood through years of pain and disparity to get to this moment for the city of Franklin, and today we come together as a people to unite in peace and love, and this is a day we’ll always remember.”

The ceremony was held the day before Juneteenth celebrations will take place at the Franklin town square and at Pinkerton Park, and the day after President Joe Biden signed into law declaring Juneteenth as a federal holiday.

“[The president] called me, asking me what I thought of this,” Franklin Mayor Ken Moore jokingly said as he led off the dedication. “I told him, in Franklin we’ve already done this.”

Moore pointed out that more than 900 cities across the world have streets named in honor of King and that Tennessee now has nine. Others are Bristol, Chattanooga, Jackson, Knoxville, Memphis, Morristown, Nashville and New Market.

In addition to Moore, speakers were Thelma Battle, a local historian with the African American Heritage Society of Williamson County, and Cassandra W. Taylor, great-granddaughter of A.N.C. Williams who traveled from her home in Memphis.

“As I was driving this morning, I was thinking of my favorite song called “Home” that was played in [the Broadway musical] “The Wiz,” said Taylor, who grew up in Franklin. “And it says, ‘When I think of home, I think of a place where there’s love all around.’ Today I see a lot of love. I see a lot of diversity.”

Allen Nelson Crutcher (A.N.C.) Williams, who was born into slavery, opened the first African American business in downtown Franklin in 1863. Williams developed several businesses and contributed significantly to the Natchez Street neighborhood where he lived as well as the Franklin community at large.