Friendswood is a town of over 34,000, but we worship, we learn, we play, and we work together with the heart and spirit of a small town. We are proud of our patriotism and our civic identity. Volunteerism and community spirit prevail. Visit one of our exemplary schools in Clear Creek ISD or Friendswood ISD. Drop by our beautiful City Hall and meet our tremendous staff providing unparalleled service. Learn how Friendswood continues to plan for an even better future through redevelopment of Main Street and downtown area. Join us for a walk, and stay awhile.

Area Economy
Harris and Galveston Counties are located along the upper Texas Gulf Coast and includes the Houston metropolitan area. Galveston County faces the Gulf of Mexico to the Southeast and is bordered by Brazoria County to the southwest, Harris County to the northwest and Chambers County to the northeast.

Friendswood is conveniently located between central Houston and Galveston, with easy access to Hobby Airport, George Bush Intercontinental Airport, Ellington Field and Clover Field. Friendswood is in the middle of the Houston Biocorridor, including the world-renowned Texas Medical Branch in Galveston.

The Houston – Galveston – Brazoria Consolidated Metropolitan Statistical Area (CMSA) is the ninth largest

population area in the country with almost 4 million people. Houston, the nation’s fourth largest city, is at the

heart of the CMSA. Income and employment in the area are strong. Although the Houston Ship Channel

provided the main stimulus for the economy in early years, oil, refining, and petrochemicals spurred rapid

expansion. Now, with the aerospace industry in close proximity to Friendswood, unemployment remains

relatively low. Employment bases are stable and the average household income was reported to be 12% higher

in the bay area.

Climate
In the heart of the sunbelt, Friendswood enjoys a subtropical climate where outdoor sports are practiced year round and the growing season extends well into November. Winter days are mild with a few temperature dips below the freezing mark. After one of the infrequent frosts, it is not uncommon for the temperature to rise to a balmy 60 or 70 degrees during the day. Spring and fall are the most pleasant times with warm days and cool nights. Summers are hot and perfect for those who enjoy the Gulf. The area is blessed with abundant rainfall which, combined with the favorable temperatures, produces a growing season of more than 290 days. With an average monthly temperature in January of 43 to 62 F and in June 73 – 89 F, average yearly rainfall is 51 inches. Prevailing winds are from the southeast.

Friendswood History
Fig orchards, satsuma orange orchards, and rice fields once flourished where Friendswood homes now stand. The last vestiges of them and the homes that the Quakers constructed are nearly gone, but the legacy left by those founders and early settlers remains. That legacy is the heritage of a way of life that did more to shape the character of the community than any brick and mortar buildings ever could.

In the spring of 1895, a Quaker named Frank Jacob Brown, who had been an adventuresome buffalo hunter, and a Quaker named Thomas Hadley Lewis, who was a college educated man, felt directed to this area of the Gulf Coast to establish a community dedicated to God. Starting Quaker colonies was a common practice of the religious sect called Quakers or Friends, as they were part of the westward movement across the nation in the middle to late 1800s. (The terms Quaker and Friends are synonymous and used interchangeably.)

When Brown and Lewis came upon this area in Northern Galveston County, they found 1,538 acres of prairie, well drained by Clear Creek, Coward’s Creek, Mary’s Creek, and Chigger Creek, and beautifully framed with the dense woods along the creeks. Feeling this surely was their “Promised Land,” they negotiated with the owner, Galveston banker J. C. League, for a deed of trust, and on July 15, 1895 they recorded the name of the colony at the Court House in Galveston. They named it Friendswood.

Word of the colony spread among Quakers in the northern and midwest states, and soon more than a dozen families joined them. Friendswood developed as a farming community marked by hard work, simple, clean living, and a deep respect for God, the family, and education.

After the colony survived the Galveston Storm of 1900 with no loss of life, they used their sawmill to convert the swaths of trees felled by the storm into lumber for the construction of a two story building they called the Academy. It served them as church, school, and community meeting place until it was replaced by the present stone church building in 1949. The Academy (high school) operated by the Quakers offered a classical curriculum through 1928, and attracted students, in its earliest years, from surrounding towns that had no high school.

From 1895 to 1915, most of the newcomers were Quakers who came to be a part of the Quaker colony. Through 1920, the population was swollen by an influx of farmers, lured by Houston developers who advertised the Gulf Coast as a Garden of Eden where figs, oranges, and rice grew practically wild. By the early 1920s, there were 17,000 to 18,000 acres of figs from Winnie to San Leon, and 17 fig preserving plants. Two of those plants were in Friendswood. Support personnel for the farms brought more people to Friendswood, and the early 1930s brought families dispossessed by the Depression looking for a new chance in life. Late in the decade, the newly developing oil fields east and west of the community provided jobs for more newcomers. The war slowed the growth in the 1940s, but the decade still saw the beginning of a trend of wealthy business and professional people from Houston buying up property along the creeks.

For the first 50 years of Friendswood’s life, it had a church, a school, a post office, a grocery store, and a fig plant or two. That was it. There was no doctor, no bank, no drug store, no policeman, not even a newspaper. Up to this time it was a rural, predominately Quaker settlement whose history is authenticated by the Texas State Historical Marker located on the Friends Church property.

During the 1950s, young families moving out from Houston began to give Friendswood its modern, bedroom stature, but the population was still less than 1,000 in 1959. In 1960, farsighted local men put into action a plan for the incorporation of Friendswood, and the town elected its first mayor, city council, and a law officer–a move which helped prepare it to cope with the tremendous growth which took place in the decade of the 1960s as hundreds of NASA employees chose Friendswood as their home. Subdivisions, schools, churches, businesses and community organizations mushroomed. By 1966 Friendswood had its first medical clinic, pharmacy, bank, newspaper and police department. In 1969 the population was 5,200.

Growth continued unabated through the 1970s and 1980s, and the population was nearing 29,000. Friendswood became a suburban community of fine homes, churches, businesses, schools and organizations. The strong volunteer instincts of the residents enabled the city to build a municipal building in 1965 without debt because residents donated labor, materials and funding. In 1971 they built a replica of the Frank J. Brown home to serve as a repository of Friendswood’s heritage.

Since the 1980s Friendswood has grown considerably; the current population is more than 34,000. Friendswood encompasses parts of two counties–Northern Galveston and southern Harris County, divided by the popular Clear Creek. Clear Creek offers direct water access to the Gulf of Mexico through Clear Lake and Galveston Bay. It is located 3 miles west of IH-45, halfway between Houston and Galveston. Friendswood encompasses 21 square miles and is over 70% developed. There is ample room for growth–commercially, industrially and residentially.

Within a thirty minute drive residents can attend cultural, educational and recreational events. Ballet, opera, theaters, orchestras, museums, NASA, amusements parks, observatories, zoos, major league sports of every kind, and the beach at Galveston are all conveniently available.

Education is an important part of every successful community. Friendswood lies within two premier school districts–Clear Creek ISD and Friendswood ISD. Both are rated among the best in Texas. There are several community colleges, as well as quality four year universities and upper level graduate schools in close proximity.

Transportation systems are well developed with road, air and rail easily accessible. Friendswood highways include IH 45, Texas Highway 35, FM 528, FM 518, and FM 2351. The local Clover Field Airport provides a 4,300 ft. hard surface, lighted general aviation runway with fuel service. Houston’s William P. Hobby Airport, served by eight carriers, is 15 miles to the north. Ellington Field, 5 miles to the east, operates as a general aviation reliever and is utilized as a cargo field. Rail service is conveniently provided in adjacent towns by four major railway companies.