[1] The statue was designed to be on an 8-ft. granite pedestal outside the government center, on its mall just north of the Franklin County Hall of Justice at the southwest corner of Mound and High streets.

Anderson was the chair of Muskingum College's art department; he had visited Boston and Philadelphia to research existing statues of Franklin.

On his way, Anderson viewed several of the best-known depictions of Franklin: one by Jean-Antoine Houdon and another by Jean-Jacques Caffieri in the Bibliothèque Mazarine.

The statue was created in 18 pieces, welded together by an expert craftsman, who also did the final chasing of the metal and applied its warm brown patina.

1/3 bronze copies of the statue was donated to the Eastern New Mexico University by Anderson when he was the head of the art department.

[4] In 2011, the statue was joined in the building's lobby by the 2006 work Man of Characters, a 10-foot-tall portrait of Franklin, a gift from Ron Pizzuti's family.