Guest, Sign inJoin

Post to Friendship

We’ll email a one-tap link to publish your post. No password, and nothing is public until you click it.
Already a member? Sign in
–Not graded
History · Friendship

Friendship’s post office opened in 1858, and 21% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listings are the Adams County Courthouse and the Gunning-Purves Building. Below: 12 old photos and papers and maps from 1961 on.

1858first post office
2on the National Register
21%homes built before 1940
12old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Friendship’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Friendship began

When was Friendship founded?

1858

The Friendship post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 648168 years
Founding year: the first Friendship post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Friendship’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A town in old photos12 old photos, postcards and papers.
★ What stands out · By decade

Friendship, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1910s to the 1920s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1910s11 items
Adams County Court House1914Adams County Court HouseNew Hotel1914New HotelTelescope view over Friendship and Adams, Wis1914Telescope view over Friendship and Adams, WisBirds eye view1914Birds eye viewFriendship Mound1919Friendship MoundFriendship Mound1919Friendship MoundFriendship Mound across the pond1919Friendship Mound across the pondMasonic Temple1919Masonic TempleMain Street North1919Main Street NorthPower House Dam1919Power House DamMain St. South1919Main St. South
1920s1 item
Adams county courthouse1922Adams county courthouse
1930s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
The story so far

Friendship, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Friendship yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Its first post office opened in 1858. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 725 to 648 (-11%).

Timeline

Friendship, 1858 to 1961

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1858Post officeThe Friendship post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1904BuiltGunning-Purves Building is built
  5. 1914BuiltAdams County Courthouse is built
  6. 1914In the archiveAdams County Court House
  7. 1922In the archiveAdams county courthouse
  8. 1961On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
On the map

Friendship on the map, 1961 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Friendship. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Friendship on the 1961 USGS mapFriendship on the 1983 USGS map1961Adams sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Friendship.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Adams County Court House
Retake this viewAdams County Court House, 1914

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Friendship’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

2 historic places in Friendship

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed
2
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
2
each building in a district counts
first listed
1982
Adams County Courthouse
Adams County Courthouse, built 1914Gunning-Purves Building, built 1904
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Neoclassical1
Adams County CourthouseNeoclassical · Built 1914
Gunning-Purves BuildingBuilt 1904

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

Famous people close to Friendship

Nobody well known was born in Friendship itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.

See all →
Johnny SauterAmerican stock car racing driver · b. 1978
Travis SauterAmerican stock car racing driver · b. 1982
Jay SauterAmerican stock car racing driver · b. 1962
J
Jim SauterAmerican stock car racing driver · b. 1943
Help out

Finish Friendship’s story

Most archives stop around 1920. The photos from after that are in family albums, not libraries.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
2 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewAdams County Court House: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

Questions about Friendship’s history

What year was Friendship founded?

The Friendship post office opened in 1858, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Friendship?

Two places: the Adams County Courthouse (listed 1982) and the Gunning-Purves Building (2015).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

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 Wikimedia Commons (1), the Library of Congress (11), the National Register of Historic Places (2), U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, 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.