Franklin Parish was created on March 1, 1843 from portions of Ouachita, Catahoula and Madison parishes through the efforts of Senator John Winn.

The parish was named “Franklin ” in honor of Benjamin Franklin.

On May 22, 1843, Marcus B. Desha, Wiley Be. Grayson, Lemuel H. Bowden, James Gwin Sr., Samuel Norris, John Ward and C.W. Saunders took oaths of office as the first police jury. They met in the home of Enos Mackey on Bayou Macon.

Land for a centrally located parish seat, Winnsborough (later Winnsboro) was purchased in 1844. It was designated as the parish seat of government in 1846 and was incorporated on March 18, 1902 by Governor William Wright Heard.

When the Village of Winnsboro was officially incorporated in 1902, the man appointed to serve as the first mayor was Captain William Phillip Power. A native of Quebec, Canada, and a teacher, Power came to the United States at the age of 21. He later served as captain of a Missouri Cavalry Company in the Confederate Army. In 1865, he married Susan Desha and settled in Winnsboro. The couple built their home in downtown Winnsboro across the street from what was later to become the site of the present day U. S. Post Office.

City records show the telephone came to Winnsboro in the year 1905. The residents of Franklin Parish were now able to call each other on the telephone for communications rather than physically seeing each other to communicate.

Things around Franklin Parish start to become more modern for this time period around 1914 as the parish becomes equipped with electricity. 

Public water and sewer became available to the citizens in Franklin Parish in 1923. Before this, residents relied upon water wells and outdoor plumbing.

In 1924, a volunteer fire department was formed in Franklin Parish. 

In 1938 a bond issue to build the current municipal building was approved, and the following year citizens agreed to the purchase of the Landis municipal park property. Most of the community’s streets were hard surfaced after 1950.