Category: Allen TX News

ALLEN TEXAS HERITAGE GUILD: Before arrival of the European and American immigrants into the Allen area, Caddo and Comanche tribes inhabited North Texas. The Indian tribes migrated westward as the early settlers entered the area. The tribes were eventually removed to the “Indian Territory” to the north of the Red River. One of the last known conflicts between the early settlers and the Native Americans took place in 1844 along Rowlett Creek near the existing railroad. A historic marker along SH 5 near Rowlett Creek commemorates the event.

Immigrants of European descent began arriving into the Allen area in the early 1840’s in search of free land, traveling the Texas Road and the Central National Road constructed by the Republic of Texas.

A stage line ran from Bonham through McKinney to Allen and Plano, crossing Rowlett Creek where State Highway 5 crosses. Allen was part of the Peter’s Colony Land Grant from the Republic of Texas to the Texas Emigration & Land Company.

The Houston and Texas Central Railroad (H&TC), constructed through Allen in 1872, laid out the original township of Allen. The H&TC was acquired by J.P. Morgan & Company in 1877 and by the Southern Pacific in 1883. The H&TC erected a combination freight/passenger depot in 1918 at the Allen Central Business District.

The first train robbery in Texas took place in Allen on February 22, 1878, when Sam Bass and his associates pillaged the [H&TC] train from Sherman. Allen was a short ride from their hideouts in the Elm Trinity brush lands.

In 1907 the Texas Traction Company (Interurban) purchased right-of-way on the west side of the H&TC main line track to construct the Interurban line through Allen as a stop on its route from Denison to Dallas (completed in 1908). In 1915, a devastating fire destroyed most of the business district between the Interurban tracts and the railroad.

The Interurban – Texas Electric Railway closed in 1948, and the population of Allen declined to 400 in 1950.

The town of Allen was officially incorporated in 1953. Home Rule Status was adopted in 1979 with a Council/Manager form of government. The construction of UST 75 in 1960 had a similar impact on Allen’s future as the railroad almost a century before.

In the 1980s, Developmental Learning Materials and InteCom, Inc. relocated to Allen, leading the way for further corporate startups and relocations

The Allen Heritage Guild was established in 1996 to assure tomorrow’s heritage by recording past and current milestones for the city.

FUTURE OF ALLEN TX

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