Franklin Harkness Moore was born on September 1, 1907 to Franklin Moore, Jr. (II) and Jennie Harkness. He grew up in St. Clair, Michigan and attended prep school at Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts. He then attended the University of Michigan where he was president of his fraternity, Beta Theta Pi, and graduated in 1926.
The portrait above was done in the 1970’s and hung in the lobby of the Commercial & Savings Bank of St. Clair County until the bank was sold in 1996. Since then it has hung in the offices of Vintage Financial Services, owned by Franklin S. Moore (V).
In 1931, he married Alice Sheldon Wolfs, a great granddaughter of Diodoris Sheldon, one of the founders of the First National Bank of St. Clair that would later become the Commercial and Savings Bank. He and Alice had four children, Franklin H. Moore, Jr. (IV) in 1934, Margaret (Peggy) in 1936, Susan in 1940 and David in 1948.
Franklin’s first job after college was with General Foods. He would visit a town in his Michigan territory and organize teen boys to distribute coupons and advertisements for General Food’s products. In 1934, he joined the Commercial and Savings bank. By 1949, he was Executive Vice President and he became the bank’s president in 1952. In 1972, his son, Franklin H. Moore, Jr. (IV), took over as president and he became chairman of board and continued working, managing investments in the bank’s new trust department, until his death in April, 1982. See article on transition.
In the late 1960’s, St. Clair went through a major “urban renewal” where most of the town’s main street (Riverside Avenue) businesses were demolished. The St. Clair River, a major Great Lakes artery, runs along Riverside and a new park was built between the street and the river along with the world’s longest fresh water boardwalk. Most of the businesses were relocated into an open air mall on the other side of Riverside. The Commercial and Savings bank building on Riverside, just south of the new mall, was also demolished and a new larger building was built on the site. Franklin was one of the visionary leaders of the town’s renewal. See Times Herald article.
In addition to his role at the bank, Mr. Moore also owned and ran the Jenks Insurance Agency, a small insurance agency located within the bank building. He was a real estate investor and developer. He owned one of the mall properties that housed a grocery store and he bought wooded land in the northern part of St. Clair which he developed into a subdivision. He gave one of the subdivision lots on Meldrum Circle to his son, Franklin, Jr. who built a home there in 1969, where he lived until 2017.
Franklin was a great civic leader and held a number of positions including president of the St. Clair Rotary Club, president of the Michigan Banker’s Association (see article) and president of the board of Mental Health Association in Michigan.
See more photos of Franklin H. Moore, Sr.
Franklin’s wife, Alice, owned and ran a wallpaper and antique shop in the mall, called Wallpaper World. She helped start the St. Clair Art Fair in the 1970’s which still runs today and she donated another mall shop to the St. Clair Art Association to act as a gallery and shop for local artists. Though she was always known as Mrs. Moore, the art center building, officially known as the Alice W. Moore Center for the Arts, is regularly referred to by locals as “The Alice.”
Some of the woods Franklin bought to develop the subdivision remained undeveloped. Alice donated the remaining 66 acres to a conservancy following Franklin’s death and saw that they were named the Alice Moore Woods. See more on Alice Moore including some history of the land that is now the Woods. Also articles on the Woods and the Wallpaper World logo.
After Franklin’s death, Alice had a sculpture of a woman, with her child and dog, waving her hat to the ships passing through the St. Clair River. Alice was always fond of hats. The bronze sculpture by local artist, Mino Kramer, sits in the riverside park and is in memory of Franklin.
See Franklin H. Moore, Sr. tributes and obituaries.