Page 38 - October Sun Rays_Oct 2015

PHOTO BY JAIME CALDER

With great effort, the Nameless Schoolhouse has been restored to its original 1909 condition. The stone step from the
Nameless Post Office – responsible for the town’s unusual moniker – sits on the ground behind the laurel tree.

Continued from the previous page NAMELESS Fairview was already taken, so the town
bleached field, there sits a red, iron truss tried again. Cross Creek, their second
bridge. This bridge is the last remaining Ten years after settling just off Sandy choice, was also rejected. So they tried
structure of Friendship, Texas. Creek, citizens of a fledgling Travis again. And again. And again. Finally,
County community petitioned the post the irritated townspeople snapped at
Friendship was originally known as office for a name. To their dismay,
Allison, named for the brothers who
established their ranch there in 1847. PHOTO COURTESY FRIENDS OF THE NAMELESS SCHOOLHOUSE
A diverse farming community with
sizeable Czech and African American A class from the Nameless Schoolhouse poses for a photo. School was in ses-
populations, Allison was decimated by sion for only four to six months out of the year, and one teacher taught children
the 1921 San Gabriel River flood. The across many ages.
community regrouped, moved to higher
ground and dubbed itself Friendship. ONLINE: SCTEXAS.ORG
Another flood swept the area in the late
50s, and in 1977, the US Army Corps of
Engineers completed construction on an
earthfill dam. The town was vacated,
and the waters of the San Gabriel River
claimed Friendship once and for all.

The iron truss bridge (Friendship Bridge)
now situated over Willis Creek, was vital
to the original community, allowing easy
transportation of crops at the turn of
the century. Destroyed in the 1921 flood
and reconstructed at the new Friendship
settlement, in 1982 the US Army Corps
of Engineers moved Friendship Bridge
to its present day location – not far from
where the Allison brothers settled their
ranch 168 years ago.

36 | SUNRAYS OCTOBER 2015