206 High Street Site
206 High Street
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When Benjamin Franklin arrived in Philadelphia in 1723, he got a job at the print shop of a man name Samuel Keimer. The following year, Franklin left Keimer's shop and returned to his home town Boston for several months. He then traveled to London where he also worked as a printer.
Franklin returned to Philadelphia in 1726, and the following year, he returned to Keimer's print shop. The now more-experienced Franklin was made the manager of the shop.
In 1728, Franklin and Keimer had an argument, and Franklin quit. However, he was lured back by Keimer, who had just received a lucrative job to print paper money for New Jersey.
The two came from Philadelphia across the Delaware River to Burlington, where they spent three months working on printing the paper currency in a building which stood at this site. [3]
Franklin described the time he spent in Burlington printing the paper currency in his Autobiography: [4]
"At Burlington I made an acquaintance with many principal people of the province. Several of them had been appointed by the Assembly a committee to attend the press and take care that no more bills were printed than the law directed. They were therefore, by turns, constantly with us, and generally he who attended brought with him a friend or two for company. My mind having been much more improved by reading than Keimer's, I suppose it was for that reason my conversation seemed to be more valued. They had me to their houses, introduced me to their friends, and showed me much civility."
The Franklin connection to Burlington continued decades later, when Benjamin's son, William Franklin, was appointed the Royal Governor of New Jersey. During the first eleven years as Royal Governor, William lived in a house in Burlington, which is described in the Site of Green Bank entry below.
