Wisconsin became a state in 1848, and Adams County also celebrates that year as when it was formed. Most of the area was settled with farming and logging as the main livelihoods. However, after initial settlement, county growth was quite slow. Several efforts to bring a railroad to Adams County did not come to fruition, and as the nineteenth century came to a close, Adams was still the only existing county in Wisconsin without any rail service. Farmers in the center of the county had to take their livestock and produce across the river west to Necedah or ship their goods out of Coloma to the east to get things to market. There were more promises of a railroad in Adams County as the new century began, but it took the Chicago and Northwestern line to get the job done in late 1911.
There are many theories as to why the tracks were laid so far south of the existing Friendship, the most popular one being that speculators bought up all the land along the proposed route, making the venture too expensive for that location. An old survey was used for the new line, and a look at a map of the county will show a slight bend in the route as the tracks head northwest. Airport Drive here at the south edge of Friendship is said to have been built on land originally cleared in anticipation of the railroad going through there.