Local tradition says the town was named for its first settler, a Spanish laborer working on the Wabash and Erie Canal who built a shack in the area.

[4] According to the 2010 census, Francisco has a total area of 0.5 square miles (1.29 km2), all land.

The town was platted and laid out on the east side of the Wabash and Erie Canal by John Perkins in 1851.

Its heyday was in the mid-1850s during use of the ill-fated canal to ship goods and produce south to Evansville.

Remnants of the old canal are still visible just south of Highway 64 and west of town.

[9][10] Francisco Town Hall is located at 203 West Main St/SR64 with the Fire Department.

State Road 64 Interstate 69 (Located 2 miles east of town) Norfolk Southern Railway Francisco Elementary School is part of the East Gibson School Corp.. F.E.S.

The Lions Club pictured in the Gallery at the bottom of this page was built to serve as grades 5-8 during construction of a new school.

Many were buried along the banks in long trenches, while others were burnt in piles on the floor of small shanties along the canal.

Drinking establishments or Doggeries were popular among canal workers and in that day were very prominent around Francisco.

Whiskey was supplied by "Jigger Bosses" to workers four times a day and caused many fights among the Irish and Americans.

The Irish were generally assigned to digging with shovels, while Americans built culverts and bridges.