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 benefitting from the many young men who had gotten a taste of music in the Rotarian band.