An early agricultural settlement first known as Allison and later as Friendship stood along Willis Creek in what was then Milam County until the area was inundated by Granger Lake, built by the U.S. Corps of Engineers in the 1970s. Brothers Elihu Creswell Allison and James A. Allison began ranching there in 1847. A post office named Conel operated from 1878 to 1880, and a new post office for Allison opened in 1892. Allison included a cotton gin, a store, a Baptist church, a tabernacle, a community cemetery, and the Allison schoolhouse, later called Old Friendship, which was shared with a Woodmen of the World lodge. The 1921 San Gabriel River flood destroyed the gin, store, and tabernacle, after which the new Friendship community developed nearby on higher ground. Friendship prospered with businesses and social events, including three-day fairs with political speeches and rodeos. After consolidation with Centerville and Enterprise schools, a new Friendship schoolhouse opened in 1923, and in 1958 Friendship merged with Granger school. Farming and ranching remained the community's economic base throughout its existence, and local farm and ranch families reflected Anglo, Czech, and African American cultures. Most residents dispersed in the 1970s after construction of the Laneport, later Granger, Dam across the San Gabriel River, and burials from Allison, or Old Friendship, Cemetery were relocated to Granger cemeteries. Much of the recorded early life of the community came from Stacy Mikulencak Labaj, who collected oral histories from longtime residents, and reunions of Friendship families and friends continue to preserve its memory.