Some of my ancestors came up river from St. Louis and jumped off at Old Franklin, when it was still there.
It wasn't there for long. It was established as a settlement in 1816, but the floods of 1826 and 1828 ended the town.
from;
https://www.legendsofamerica.com/mo-oldfranklin/
Franklin became the county seat of Howard County in 1817 but its first post office would not be established until 1821. In 1819, the
Missouri Intelligencer and Boonslick Advertiser became the first newspaper printed west of the
Mississippi River. Within four years of having been founded, the town had a public square of two acres, streets that were 87 feet wide, and contained 200-300 buildings, among which were five stores, a tobacco factory, two academies, a market house, several churches, four warehouses, a jail, and a public library.
Most notable was the people that made up its population — lawyers, scholars, doctors, teachers, businessmen, artists, and more. Franklin was an ambitious and formidable rival of
St. Louis. When the capital of the new state located, Franklin was a strong candidate for that honor, being one of the three competitors.
During its greatest period — from 1823 to 1825 — Franklin’s population was estimated at 1500-1700 people.