Williamson County Historical Commission
contact Wayne Ware (512)
863-2202
ALLISON/FRIENDSHIP
COMMUNITY,
by Geraldine
(Tallas)
Heisch
About
the author of this article:
Mrs. Geraldine Heisch was born, raised and went to school at
Friendship, through all 8 grades (Friendship no longer had a high school
at that time). Three of her dad's sisters and one brother graduated from
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Allison/Friendship Community Historical Marker
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The community of Allison (later called Friendship) was located on the northern banks of Willis Creek about 4 miles east from the present town of Granger, Texas. In 1847 Elihu Creswell Allison and his brother, James A. Allison, moved to Milam County and bought land from Aza Hoxey which was part of a six league Mexican Land Grant to Pedro Zarza prior to 1836. A contract dated 29 May 1855 shows that Elihu and James were each to receive 320 acres apiece out of the six leagues. The part of the county where they bought land became Williamson County in 1848. This land was located in northeastern Williamson County and about 4 miles of the present town of Granger, Texas. James Francis Allison, the oldest son of Elihu C. and Margaret M. Allison, and two of his brothers, Elihu Polk and Russell J. Crawford Allison, each built large two-story houses in this Allison Community. (Images of two of these homes are included-pictures A & B.) The Allisons, along with other families had large cattle interests there. They registered their cattle brands in Williamson County in the Register of Cattle Brands. A post office named Conel was established here with James F. Allison, postmaster (1878-1880).
PAGE -1
The
post office was discontinued until 1892 when Calvin G. Allison, and then
Charles S. Williamson (1893) were postmasters at this same place, now
called Allison. However in 1894 mail was transferred to Granger.
In this community
was also built a cotton gin, a store, a church, a tabernacle, and a
school. The gin was built by Bill Linder and was operated at one time by
Joe Cuba, Sr. and his sons. The old tabernacle was built close to the
cotton gin and the store while the church and the school were built
across a small branch and a bit farther to the west on the banks of
Allison
school was built about 1873 near the creek.
(Images
of the school and of students are included-C & D.)
It was later called
“Old Friendship” school and this was southwest of the latter town of
The teachers at this
PAGE -2
school
were: Miss Frances Poole, Miss Zora Cook and Beulah Stanley.
The Allison Colored District 22 had as teachers Bessie West and Bessie
E. Fowler. In 1914 the trustees of Allison, District 22, of
This Allison/Old Friendship School was also used for worship services
in the Czech language by Rev. Jindrick Juren of
Elihu Allison’s youngest child died at age 10 and Elihu buried her on
the western edge of his property just south of
PAGE- 3
located at the east end
of the
Sam Allison operated a store north of the Allison home. The store
carried essentials such as flour, sugar, coffee, tobacco, snuff, a bit
of calico, thread, needles, and school supplies of paper, pencils, pen
staff and points and candy.
Here in the Allison/ Friendship community, the tabernacle was a popular
place for revival meetings, which often lasted a week. People slept
beneath their wagons and their children within the wagon. People came
from miles around, bringing enough feed for their horses to last a week.
Good spring water was handy. Fires were always going with beans
bubbling in pots and cornbread baking in the dutch ovens which hot
embers surrounded. The men would cut a lot of trees and place them in
rows and the lumberyard would lend them 1x12 planks to lay on them for
seats. Some of the people living in the Allison/Friendship area at this
time were: The Jim Allisons, The Crawford Allisons, The Polk Allisons,
The Tom Winninghams, The Bun Martins, The Gus Wolsches, The Shine
Rushings, The Sowells, The Simciks, The Ed Eliotts and others.
The
Allison/Friendship community was a thriving community until the
monstrous flood of September 1921 created havoc with the area. The gin,
the store, and the tabernacle were destroyed. Also, about 2 ½ miles
eastward on the banks of Sore Finger was a tiny community called
PAGE-4
here was a
store run by Clarence Williams, a blacksmith shop operated by Pink
Jackson, the Ed White gin, and a school for black children. The
flood washed away the gin, blacksmith shop, and the contents of the
store. The black school was built by Clarence Young on the north bank of
Sore Finger Creek and was used as a school and as a church until 1952.
After the flood Mr. Williams moved his store and house north about ½
mile from
After consolidating with two nearby
community schools (
(Image
G)
PAGE -5
The
Some of the social events in the
community were wiener roasts, parties, picnics and fishing trips. The
big event was the Friendship Fair, which lasted three days. People came
PAGE-6
from far and near to attend
the fair and to enter many exhibits. It was amazing to see the
cooperation of every one and the hard work they did to make the fair a
success. (Images
M & N included).
The Friendship Grange, No. 1414 was
established and included is a picture showing the group of April 25,
1935. (Image
O)
In the school census records in
1925, there are 256 children enrolled in the Friendship Schools
(includes the black school, also); in 1936 there are 250 pupils (209
white and 41 colored); and in 1941 there are 198 students in the
Friendship Consolidated Schools (174 white and 24 colored). (Pictures
of school and student groups are included-Images
P, Q, & R.)
A new gymnasium was erected in 1936 by Charlie Horak and Louis Kopecky.
It was considered the finest gym for miles around.
(Images
S & T)
The blacksmith shop in this new
community was run for many years by Joe Zezulka. The service
station had several owners during the years with the Clarence Lucky
Family being the last owners. They sold it to the Zik Safariks who
moved the building to a lot they bought from Chester Cocke located south
of Jerry Lesikar’s store. They remodeled the building and turned it into
a tavern, which they owned for 2 years and later sold to the Emil Mohels.
(Images
U, V, & W
)
The Mozach Gin
at Friendship later became the Friendship Co-op Gin with Henry Rozacky
as the manager. Throughout the years some of the people who served on
the gin
PAGE-7
board were: John Adamek,
Rudoph Cadan, Jake Wade, Willie Davidson, Anton Cadan, Tom Tallas, R.H.
Brookshire, Louis Shirocky, Ted Krueger, Joe Stefek and Ed Wentrcek.
The gin was a
busy place. From “Frienship Facts” in the Granger News we note that in
August 1951, 244 bales had already been baled. The crew that year
included: Henry Rozacky Sr., manager; Buck Spinn; Lawrence Rozacky;
Ralph Brookshire; Johnnie Janak; Mrs. R.H. Brookshire, bookkeeper and
Doc Sharp (hauled bales to Granger).
(Images
X, Y, & Z)
A most notable lady from the
Friendship Community was Stacy Mikulencak Labaj, 1903-1977. Stacy spent
many years on the Williamson County Historical Commission. Her oral
histories include many early residents of this community. Some of
these tapes are at the Center for American Histories at the
The Friendship Community, beginning
on the banks of
click here to view
Allison/Friendship Community Historical Marker
for more
info click on
Allison Friendship Community, Texas
by The Handbook of Texas Online
Allison Friendship Community, Texas by
Texas Escapes
Pardon our dust - we're under construction and we will have more information forthcoming.