Franklin ? A sidewalk built to connect two small southeast Kansas towns is now on the National Register of Historic Places.

The nearly 1.7-mile sidewalk, which runs from the south edge of Franklin to near the south edge of Arma, had been added to the Register of Kansas Historic Places in November 2006.

“This is great, another milestone for Franklin,” Craig Stokes, president of the Franklin Community Council, said Monday about the national designation.

Phyllis Bitner, who did research and helped prepare applications for the National Register, said the sidewalk was built in 1936. Schoolchildren had to use the sidewalk to walk to school in Arma, and many residents also used it to walk to Arma to do business.

Bitner said several accidents and deaths were reported as children walked along the edge of the road, so the sidewalk gave children and adults a safe place to walk.

The sidewalk is still used for walking and biking.