The town was likely named for Friend Cochrane Williamson, an early settler. Friendly was incorporated in 1898.
The 1884 heirloom tomato variety was said to be discovered by James Lyde Williamson growing in a pile of flood debris along the Ohio River near Friendly, after the Great Flood of 1884.
In 1903 the Parkersburg and Ohio Valley Electric Railway began to build a major electric interurban railway between Wheeling and Parkersburg. It only opened five miles (8 km) between Sistersville and Friendly, and it operated until 1918. Friendly was claimed to have been one of the smallest settlements in the US with a dedicated interurban service, since it only had 217 residents at the time.
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 (3), the National Register of Historic Places (1), 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.
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