Hanson Memorial High School

Hanson Memorial High School is celebrating its 90th anniversary opening its doors to the youth of Franklin since 1925. The people of Franklin are indebted to the late Minnie Hanson Conolly; for this school and land was presented to them in memory of their father, Albert Hanson, and her brother, Eddie Hanson. In 1931, Mrs. Conolly established an endowment fund dedicated to facility upkeep of her beloved school. The late Mrs. J.C. Blevins continued the work of her generous aunt when addition of a library and cafeteria building in the early fifties and the construction of a gym/science structure in 1962 completed the needed facilities for the school. In the spring of 1967, the Christian Brothers, after forty years of dedicated work in the education of boys in Franklin, withdrew from the faculty at Hanson because of a greater need in other areas of the Province. In August 1967, St. John Academy and Hanson Memorial High School were consolidated and Hanson opened its doors as a junior and senior coeducational high school. The Marianites of Holy Cross, who had been at St. John since 1871, agreed to become a part of Hanson's staff. With this restructuring, a new era in Catholic education in Franklin was begun and has proved to be an important and valuable part of the community. Presently, dedicated laymen and women staff the school. Currently, Hanson Memorial High School educates students in grades six through twelve. In 1999 a successful Capital Campaign raised nearly one million dollars. That money was used to build a modern eight room "junior high wing" to the school. In the fall of 2011 a new state of the art library was completed, dedicated to lifelong parish priest Fr. Oniell Landry, who continues to visit Hanson Memorial on occasion. For the 2015-2016 school year a "resurrected" auditorium is in the final stages of completion and will serve as a tribute to Mrs. Minnie Hanson Conolly for her giving love of Catholic Educaton in Franklin. Today her Blevins-Kemper descendants carry on the family's dedication to Catholic education and Hanson Memorial High School.