Today's Franklin Press Printing is a combination of four print shops spanning a service history of over 30 years. This strength allows us to provide excellent service locally, regionally, and nationally. We service Northeast Alabama and Northwest Georgia through delivery routes and ship nationally.
Our parent company, CCK Ventures, LLC, acquired CRS Printing & Promotions in 2010. At that time, there were two locations, both in Alabama. They were consolidated into the Centre location. CCK purchased The Franklin Press of Rome, Georgia, in May of 2011. The Franklin Press started in Virginia over 25 years ago and then relocated to Rome. During the last 10 years it acquired several other print shops, including Able Printing which also began in Virginia.
Initially, sales and production were under the two umbrellas of CRS Printing in Centre, Alabama, and Franklin Press in Rome. Expansion and remodeling of the CRS facility in Centre, was completed in November of 2012, at which time we began consolidating production facilities to Centre. The Rome production facility was closed in December of 2012. Beginning in early 2013, we started phasing out the CRS Printing & Promotions name and started the process of marketing all operations under the Franklin Press name. That name ties back to a long history of quality and craftsmanship belonging to one of our country’s most famous printers, Ben Franklin.
For those who are not familiar with his role as an early American printer, here is a brief history of one of our country’s founding fathers and a cornerstone to the printing industry.
At the age of twelve, Ben Franklin first began to learn the business of printing the truth. His older brother, James, set up a printing office in Boston where Ben learned as an apprentice. By the time Ben was seventeen, he was an adept printer able to work in any print shop. With this skill, Ben was able to leave Boston and find work in Philadelphia as well as London. At the age of twenty-two, in 1728, Ben opened his own printing office in Philadelphia. His most famous publications were a newspaper called thePennsylvania Gazetteand his annualPoor Richard's Almanac. He had many new ideas for publishing, and he is known for printing cartoons, illustrated news stories, and letters to the editor. He believed in the power of the press, using his printing press as a way to bring the news to all people. He used cartoons and pictures so that everyone could understand the news, even people who were illiterate. Ben also used Poor Richard's Almanac to express his sense of humor.
In 1731, Ben founded America's first circulating library so that people could borrow books to read even though they might not have been able to afford to buy books. Ben wanted to use his printing press to help people understand the world around them. When Ben Franklin died in 1790, he was a world-famous scientist and diplomat, but he named himself in his will as simply, "Benjamin Franklin, Printer."