Frank for the rest of his life, though he did little actual work with the militia. Territorial Legislature When Southport was organized as a village, Frank was elected the first Village President, in 1840. He was elected to represent Racine County (which, at the time, included all of present day Kenosha County) on the Wisconsin Territorial Council. In the Council, he advocated for moving Wisconsin toward statehood, and wrote the first report for the territory to advocate a statehood plan. There was, at the time, still some resistance to statehood as it would mean taking on expenses that were currently being covered by federal dollars. Perhaps the issue he is best known for was his act passed during the 1845 session, after several earlier attempts, to establish a free public school in Southport. He had begun advocating for the concept in the Telegraph in 1840 and continued in various forms. Initially, childless Southport residents thought that it was unreasonable to tax them to pay for schools, but the village eventually approved. His idea proved popular when framed that education was public property and essential to good government. Other free school systems emerged in the territory, and ultimately the idea of tax-supported public schools was incorporated into Article X of the Wisconsin Constitution. After Wisconsin became a state, Frank was chosen by the legislature as one of three commissioners to adapt the territorial laws to the new state government. Frank took charge of creating the public school code, which was adopted in the 1849 session of the legislature. During that year, he was also appointed to a special commission to compile the revised statutes of Wisconsin, which were published in the Fall of 1849. Mayor and later years Frank was chosen as the first mayor of Kenosha after its incorporation as a city in 1850. His time as Mayor was marked by two major incidents. The first was the "Wheat Revolt" in which a number of farmers who had stored their crop at warehouses in Kenosha became alarmed by a rumor that wheat was being stolen. Mayor Frank was able to keep the peace during days of threats and incitements until a company of militia arrived from Milwaukee to ensure peace and restore confidence in the marketplace. The second major incident was a Cholera outbreak which claimed a number of lives. He became associated with the Republican Party at the time