In the early
part of the 20th Century, the Rotary Club of Franklin sponsored a boys band
that was enormously successful with the young men of Franklin.
George Feldman
was closely associated with the band (George was the leader of the famed
Baptist Sunday School Orchestra). Bert Smiley was the Rotary Band leader,
assisted by Albert "Brick" Egbert, son of the same Dr. Egbert who
provided Franklin's lovely park fountain.
When Brick died
in 1927, the Rotarians decided that they no longer had the manpower to run the
band program. In a somewhat unusual move, George Feldman pushed the Franklin
School District to take over the Rotary's longstanding successful band program.
Charles Ackley had just returned to the area, and the school district hired him
to provide instrumental instruction.
Franklin High School's first school band concert would not come until
1935, but by the thirties both the band and the school were benefiting from
the many young men who had gotten a taste of music in the Rotarian band.
