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History · Allen

Allen dates to 1854, and 41% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: maps from 1885 on and the census since 1910.

1854founded
0on the National Register
41%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Ichabod · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Allen began

When was Allen founded?

1854

Allen dates its founding to 1854 (Wikipedia’s history). The census first counted it in 1910.

First census: 286 in 19102020 census: 160172 years
Founding year: Wikipedia. First post office: 1855.The full story ↓

What stands out about Allen’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Allen are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.On the map since 18854 editions of the USGS map, 1885 to 1983. Watch Allen change.Boom and bustPeaked at 343 in 1930; 160 people lived here in 2020.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Allen’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Allen’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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On the map

Allen on the map, 1885 to 1983

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Allen. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Allen on the 1885 USGS mapAllen on the 1894 USGS mapAllen on the 1971 USGS mapAllen on the 1983 USGS map1885Eskridge sheet · 1:125,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Allen.

People over time

Allen, census by census

0100200300192019401960198020002020Peak: 343

Peaked at 343 in 1930; 160 people lived here in 2020.

12 censuses, 1910–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Allen’s Wikipedia page.

The story

How Allen came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Allen.

Read it all →

Allen was founded in 1854. It was incorporated as a city in 1909.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Allen in 1901

Passages that mention Allen, cut from the printed page as they were published.

In all that engaged public interest, or went to make up her early history, whether it were an incipent county seat contest, an election to vote bonds to aid railroads or build machine shops, or a scheme to evade such bonds already voted, the lawyers of Allen County were conspicuously at the front. …
History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas1901 · page 41Read the page →
Read the text

In all that engaged public interest, or went to make up her early history, whether it were an incipent county seat contest, an election to vote bonds to aid railroads or build machine shops, or a scheme to evade such bonds already voted, the lawyers of Allen County were conspicuously at the front. To preserve their names in history, and more especially to transmit to future generations of Allen County lawyers the memory of their predecessors who, during and prior to the seventies, drove angling across the unfenced quarter sections, of which it was composed, to talk politics in

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.
In 1858, at the earnest solicitation of the Union Settlement Company, which had bought a large body of land in Allen county, Kansas, and had laid out the town of Geneva, he disposed of his interest in the
History of Allen and Woodson counties, Kansas1901 · page I37Read the page →
Read the text

In 1858, at the earnest solicitation of the Union Settlement Company, which had bought a large body of land in Allen county, Kansas, and had laid out the town of Geneva, he disposed of his interest in the

Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Allen, 1854 to 1930

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1854
    FoundingAllen is established
  3. 1855Post officeThe Allen post office opens
  4. 1885On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
  5. 20th century
  6. 1930CensusPopulation peaks at 343
By decade

Allen, decade by decade

Today2 recent
Aerial view of Allen, Kansas 09-04-20132013Aerial view of Allen, Kansas 09-04-2013KSMap-doton-Allen2004KSMap-doton-Allen

Questions about Allen’s history

What year was Allen founded?

In 1854, according to Wikipedia’s history of the town. Allen’s post office opened in 1855, and the census of 1910 counted 286 people here.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.