Merchants selling furniture, clothes, and jewelry were opened on Upper Franklin Street and developed as a new shopping district in 1925. The Franklin Bank took a prime spot on the corner of Franklin Street and Royal Streets. Opened by a group of the area merchants along with Citizens Bank and Trust Co. as an upper Franklin auxiliary, the bank added convenience to the growing neighborhood. It cost approximately $35,000 to build.

As economic collapse loomed in 1928, the building was sold to a group of North Franklin businessmen for $85,000. Like many financial institutions devastated by the Great Depression, the bank and its parent Citizens defaulted in July of 1929. As conditions took their toll, the Tampa Transient Relief office opened here in 1935. As the recovery began, Madden Furniture Inc. opened its doors in 1939. The building continued as different furniture stores for decades. A fire destroyed the structure in 1994, but the last business, Pearl Furniture, had long vacated it. It is now a parking lot.

 © Chip Weiner. All rights reserved