Franklin County, home to Penn National Golf Course Community, was created on September 9, 1784, and named for Benjamin Franklin. The county seat, Chambersburg,
was begun even earlier by Colonel Benjamin Chambers, who settled in the area and laid out its lots in 1764. Earlier, in 1755, hundreds of settlers in the area had been killed and taken prisoner by hostile Indians, and Chambers was sent to build a fort for the protection of the settlers.

In 1765, a group of settlers fired on the British garrison at Fort Loudon in a dispute over confiscated firearms, leading some historians to consider this act the first defiance of British rule in America. Certainly, the men of Chambersburg and Pennsylvania formed one of the very first militias to go to the aid of Boston, at the very beginning of the Revolutionary War.

The town became the county seat in1803 when a formal government was set up by the state Assembly, and by 1859, Chambersburg was a stop on the Underground Railroad, which hid runaway slaves and aided in their escape to Canada and freedom. The infamous abolitionist, John Brown, and his followers met in Chambersburg while planning their disastrous raid on Harper's Ferry.

When the Civil War began in 1861, Chambersburg began several years of hardship, when 80,000 Confederate soldiers, under the leadership of General Lee, occupied the town. During this time, the town was repeatedly pillaged and the ammunition dump was destroyed. Early in 1864, in retaliation for a federal raid into Virginia, the Confederate army demanded that Chambersburg pay a $100,000 ransom in gold. The citizens refused and the town was looted and set on fire, making Chambersburg the only Northern town burned by the Confederate army. Although thousands of people were left homeless, the citizens quickly rebuilt, establishing Chambersburg as a center of industry and home to the Cumberland Valley Railroad. The city continues to thrive today, and to build on the history of hard work and determination of its forefathers.