Friendship Community

The lake that covered Allison and Old Friendship was first called Laneport Lake. The Handbook of Texas says the Corps of Engineers began the dam on the San Gabriel River in 1972 and completed it in 1977. The earthfill embankment is 16,320 feet long and serves flood control, water conservation, recreation and wildlife habitat. Its entry on Granger says the lake opened to the public in 1981. The plaque gives the 1921 flood on the same river as the reason the old settlement moved to higher ground.

What the plaque says

Friendship Community Beneath the waters of Granger Lake, constructed by the U.S. Corps of Engineers in the 1970s, lies the site of an early agricultural settlement known as Allison and later as Friendship. Brothers Elihu Creswell Allison and James A. Allison began ranching here in 1847, in what was then Milam County. A post office named Conel operated 1878-80, and in 1892 a new post office opened for Allison. Located along Willis Creek, Allison boasted a cotton gin, a store, a Baptist church, a tabernacle, a community cemetery and the Allison schoolhouse, later known as Old Friendship, shared with a Woodmen of the World lodge. The devastating 1921 San Gabriel River flood destroyed the gin, store and tabernacle, and the new Friendship community developed nearby on higher ground. It prospered with businesses and social events, such as three-day fairs featuring political speeches and rodeos. Following consolidation with Centerville and Enterprise schools, a new Friendship schoolhouse opened in 1923. In 1958, Friendship merged with Granger school, but the building remained a community center for elections and a meeting place for farmers and homemakers. Agriculture remained the economic base of the community throughout its existence, and local farm and ranch families reflected diverse cultures, including Anglo, Czech and African American. Most residents dispersed in the 1970s, after construction of the Laneport (later Granger) Dam across the San Gabriel River. Allison (Old Friendship) Cemetery burials were relocated to Granger cemeteries. Much of the recorded early life of the community was the work of Stacy Mikulencak Labaj (1903-77), who collected oral histories with longtime residents. Today, a reunion of Friendship families and friends keeps the memories alive for future generations. (2006)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Williamson County Courthouse — 22 mi
  The fifth Williamson County courthouse, a Beaux Arts building by C. H. Page, rises over a Georgetown square of more than 50 Victorian-era buildings.
• Milam County Courthouse and Jail — 22 mi
  Cameron's 1892 Renaissance Revival courthouse and the 1895 St. Louis-built jail beside it, now the county museum, are listed together on the National Register.
• Inner Space Cavern — 23 mi
  A Georgetown cave found in 1963 when highway engineers drilled test holes, holding Pleistocene fossils and 72-degree rooms that visitors reach by an artificial tunnel.
• The Round Rock — 26 mi
  A table-shaped stone in Brushy Creek gave Round Rock its name in 1854; the Chisholm Trail crossed the creek near it, and Old Town stayed behind when the railroad pulled the town east.

More markers nearby

• Site of Moravia School — 5.1 mi
• Davilla Baptist Church — 5.3 mi
• Site of New Bern Church, School, and Cemetery — 6.2 mi
• Donahoe Community — 6.8 mi