West Friendship

West Friendship is located at the 19-mile marker along Frederick turnpike in Howard County. Like many small communities here, it developed slowly as settlers moved west.

As adventurers set out to survey the area, they established land tracts in the 1700's -many before the Revolutionary War. Stein's history (1972) lists land grants given to families whose descendants live in the area today. The families of Warfield, Ridgely, Selby, Hobbs, Cross, and Cissel helped create what is now West Friendship.

Settlers came from all walks of life. The G.M. Hopkins Atlas of 1878 recorded residents' names and occupations. The majority were farmers. There were a few farmer-merchants, one farmer-physician, and one farmer-butcher. They grew tobacco, the main crop in Howard County. In the 1780's, the Ellicott brothers persuaded Howard County farmers to grow wheat, an easily marketed crop.

In the 19th Century, the main road through West Friendship was filled with travelers who could find comfort at mile houses along the route. Some came to settle; others, like the circuit rider ministers, rode on horseback from church to church, making it more convenient for residents to attend the nearest service.

Early travel was rough, but most residents were adept at horseback riding. Many traveled over the Frederick turnpike built in the 1790's. Empty land soon gave way to a general store and post office in West Friendship. In the 20th Century, paved roads and the automobile replaced country roads and the horse and buggy. The paving of the West Friendship-Sykesville Road (MD 32) by the State in 1910, was an important development for the community.

West Friendship's one-room school house provided a primary education for many residents in the early 1900's. By 1925, the town's high school replaced all nearby one-room schools, and area residents came by school bus to attend one of the first consolidated schools in Howard County.

Social gatherings continued to center around farming in the 1940's. Before then, the Howard County Grange Competitions were held at Brendel Manor Park and in one resident's front yard. Later in the 1950's, residents set up the groundwork for the present Howard County Fair held annually in West Friendship.

Today, the town retains its rich history. Farms and historic homes cover the land still inhabited by descendants of the earlier aristocratic families. A shopping center stands where farmland once existed. Yet tradition lives on in this small crossroads community.

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