It is the site of the city's passenger railway station, a major industrial-commercial stretch of State Highway 1C, and a commercial shopping area.

The area is dominated by the well-known, locally owned department store, Forlongs Furnishings of Frankton, established in 1946.

It was built in 1929 as a 35-room hotel[15] to a design by Jack Chitty[16] and is listed as a category 2 historic place.

[32] It was formerly the Rifle Range Reserve[33] and has 5 sports fields, used by Frankton Rugby Club, and 3 astroturf cricket pitches.

[36] The New Zealand leg of the Australian V8 Supercars centred on Hamilton Street Circuit in and around Frankton, yearly from April 2008 to 2012.

Three people were killed, seven victims were badly injured and damage to property was heavy after a tornado swept across Hamilton from the north-west shortly before midday on Wednesday 25 August 1948.

[37] The tornado, which appears to have originated in the Frankton or Forest Lake area, went through the business area of Frankton then over the hill into Hamilton West where it passed between Hamilton Lake and Victoria Street (the main street).

Then, it travelled across the Waikato River to Hamilton East where damage occurred in Wellington, Naylor and Grey streets.

Buildings were lifted off their piles, chimneys were snapped off, houses were unroofed, trees uprooted, and power and telephone lines were left hanging in the streets.

The air was filled with flying corrugated iron, branches of trees, timber and other debris.

Heavy rain accompanied the storm and overhead lightning flashed and thunder boomed.