Franklin Square is a historical and ideal urban community. This greatly admired community is located blocks away from the main Baltimore City Commuter thoroughfare known as Route 40 which extends to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard.

A largely African American neighborhood (East of Fulton after 1910, West after 1950), the area housed institutions with city wide patronage. The mural located on Fulton and Mulberry Streets reflects the Franklin Square residents who were committed to working hard and improving the quality of life in the community. A conveniently located neighborhood, Franklin Square is only minutes from the MARC Train, Hollins Market, Lexington Market, the Inner Harbor, Camden Yards, the Ravens Stadium, and the B&O Railroad Museum.

Nineteenth-century row houses and property extend over 80% of the acreage. Row house mansions around the square set the standard for the rest of the neighborhood. Fayette Street brownstones with ornate door lintels and iron balconies called Canby Row. Ivanhoe Terrace on Lexington Street was distinguished by exterior entryways with highly decorative columns and cornices the latter not mass-produced for Italianate homes.

A historical community, Franklin Square received its name from Franklin Square Park.  The park is the oldest of six mid-19th century hilltop squares in the city.  The Douglass Theater, forerunner to the Royal Theater, was located on Gilmor Street near Saratoga Street. Franklin Square Apartments, the 65-unit apartment house on Saratoga and Mount Street, was built in 1888 as Coppin Normal School. Today it is known as Coppin State College.  Coppin Normal School was one of the first public schools with an African American staff.  Saint Martins Church located at Fulton and Fayette Streets is the neighborhood's oldest continuous church congregation.  Franklin Square Hospital on Calhoun and West Fayette Streets was built in 1898. The hospital moved to Baltimore County in the mid 1960's.