Allen

Allen City hall Information

A short history of Allen

The first settlers of Allen arrived in the early 1840s in search of free land. The construction of the Houston and Texas Central (H&TC) Railroad in 1872 laid the foundation for the original township of Allen. On February 22, 1878 the first train robbery in the state of Texas took place in Allen. The Texas Traction Company bought the right of way on the West side of the H&TC primary track and constructed a stop on the rout between Dallas and Denison in 1908.

However in 1948 the line was shutdown and the town's population declined as a result. Despite this setback Allen was incorporated in 1953 and its population grew large enough (5000 people) by 1979 for a home rule charter to be established. The 1960s saw the construction of US highway 75 brought new life and businesses to Allen and in the 1980 major corporations began moving to the area thus securing the cities future.