24/7 Biohazard and Crime Scene Cleanup in Franklin, NJ

Franklin is a borough in Sussex County, New Jersey, known around the world as the "Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World."

The borough sits atop an extraordinarily rich zinc ore body containing more than 150 minerals in the borough's count alone, many of them fluorescent and about 25 of which are found nowhere else on Earth.

Franklinite, a black zinc-iron-manganese mineral discovered in 1819 and found only in Franklin and neighboring Ogdensburg, was named for the town and its namesake, Benjamin Franklin.

Settled in the 17th century, the village grew up as Franklin Furnace, named after Benjamin Franklin, around iron mines and smelting operations along the Wallkill River that were active by about 1750.

In 1897, all of the area's competing zinc mining companies were merged into the New Jersey Zinc Company, and the mining boom swelled Franklin's population from about 500 in 1897 to 3,000 by 1913.

Franklin was incorporated as a borough in 1913, carved out of Hardyston Township at the height of the zinc boom.

Mining at the Franklin Mine ended on September 30, 1954, when the ore body was exhausted after producing roughly 22 to 23 million tons of ore, while the companion Sterling Hill Mine in Ogdensburg kept operating until 1986.

The Franklin Mineral Museum, which opened to the public on October 9, 1965, preserves the borough's mining heritage with local fluorescent minerals displayed under ultraviolet light.

On June 20, 1968, the State of New Jersey officially declared Franklin the "Fluorescent Mineral Capital of the World."

The 2020 United States census counted 4,912 residents in Franklin, a recovery for a borough whose economy was long tied to the zinc industry.