Most of Friendship was built recently: 4% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1974. Below: maps from 1981 on and the census since 1880.
The city of Friendship was founded in 1853, though there was a post office in operation in the area as early as 1844. The city was plotted out in 1858, and incorporated the following year with W.P. Rice serving as the first mayor.
According to local lore, when the post office was established in 1884, there were two major stores that were doing business in the area, each about a mile from the site of the post office. By mutual consent, they split the distance and moved their stores to the site of today's downtown. This act of friendship inspired the town's name.
By the 1920s the Birmingham and Northwestern Railroad had laid track on the east side of town and constructed a depot.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
