Friendswood: A Quaker Colony on Clear Creek

Most Texas towns were born of railroads, ranches, or oil. Friendswood was born of faith. In 1895 a small band of Quakers — members of the Society of Friends — came to this bend of Clear Creek to build a community dedicated to their beliefs, named it Friendswood, and made church and school the center of everything. From those beginnings the colony grew a peaceful farming economy, and for a time it became the fig capital of Galveston County, with orchards and preserving plants shipping the fruit far and wide. This drive traces the Quaker town: the marker where the colony began, the church and its pioneer cemetery, the fig industry that gave it a cash crop, and the home of one of the community's leading Quaker families. It's a quiet, distinctive story — a town whose founding value is written right into its name.