{"id":152862,"date":"2026-02-05T23:32:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:32:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/152862\/"},"modified":"2026-02-05T23:32:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-05T23:32:09","slug":"celebrate-allens-150th-anniversary-at-downtown-festival-april-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/152862\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrate Allen’s 150th anniversary at downtown festival April 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\t\tThe city of Allen<\/a> is celebrating the 150th anniversary<\/a> of its first appearance on a map with a downtown festival Saturday, April 25.<\/p>\n

Although people lived in Allen before then, city staff chose the plat filing in 1876 to mark the city\u2019s founding, city staff said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMarking 150 years of Allen is both a celebration of our past and a reminder of what makes our future so bright,\u201d Mayor Baine Brooks said. \u201cWe\u2019ve earned national recognition for the kind of city we\u2019ve become, but our real strength has always been our people. Even as Allen has grown and changed, that strong sense of community and togetherness continues to define who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

The details<\/p>\n

The event<\/a> will be from 3-9 p.m. in downtown Allen and include food trucks, live music, carnival rides, local shopping, a drone show and more.<\/p>\n

To celebrate the city\u2019s history as a railroad town, the event will be located in downtown Allen where the original train depot was located until it burned down in a fire in the late 1940s, according to the Allen Heritage Guild\u2019s website.<\/p>\n

Leadership Allen Class 10, Allen Parks and Recreation, the Allen Heritage Guild and the Allen Chamber of Commerce, with funding from the Allen Community Development Corporation, reconstructed a replica of the depot in 2003. This will serve as a focal point for the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt brings us back to the place where it all started,\u201d said Chelsey Aprill, the city’s director of public and media relations.<\/p>\n

The city is providing a shuttle service that will pick guests up at Allen High School and drop them off at Allen Flower Shop<\/a>, one of the city\u2019s oldest businesses. Although there will be designated drop-off spots for Uber and Lyft, Aprill said the city is encouraging attendees to utilize the shuttle.<\/p>\n

Attendees can also visit the Allen Public Library<\/a>, where there will be displays showcasing the growth in the 1980s when development in the area began rapidly increasing, Aprill said.<\/p>\n

Rodenbaugh’s Appliances Outlet will have paintings in its windows depicting the city\u2019s history as well.<\/p>\n

The backstory<\/p>\n

Although Allen was founded in 1876, most of the growth didn\u2019t begin until the early 1900s when Texas Traction Co. built an electric railway from Denison to Dallas, Allen Heritage Guild President Paula Ross said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe church and the school were the first properties that were built,\u201d Ross said.<\/p>\n

By 1884, the town of Allen had three churches, a flour mill and a population of 350, according to the Allen Heritage Guild<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Wetsel House is the oldest known structure still standing in Allen today, according to the Allen Heritage Guild. (Courtesy city of Allen)Other significant dates in Allen\u2019s history include:1930: Lone Star Gas delivery started1953: Allen was incorporated into Collin County with a population of 4001960: US 75 was constructed through Allen1967: Allen library founded1968: first police chief hired1975: land was purchased for the post office1979: City Council established2005: population of Allen reaches 70,3812019: Allen population reaches 105,6302026: Allen celebrates 150 yearsThe Allen Heritage Guild was founded in 1996 by the seventh Leadership Allen class to preserve the city\u2019s history. The organization recently celebrated its 30th anniversary.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody needs to have a sense of place, a sense of community,\u201d Ross said. \u201c I think a shared history like that is important to people. It grounds you and brings us all together.\u201d<\/p>\n

Get involved<\/p>\n

Residents can find more information on volunteer opportunities, sponsoring the event and other ways to join the community celebration at www.allen150.org.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a moment to pause and commemorate how far our journey has taken us in this wonderful community,\u201d Aprill said.\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The city of Allen is celebrating the 150th anniversary of its first appearance on a map with a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":152863,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[63274,55993,55994,1604,63279,63276,63278,63275,160,162,161,3343,55996,63277],"class_list":{"0":"post-152862","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-plano","8":"tag-allen-150-anniversary","9":"tag-allen-heritage-guild","10":"tag-allen-history","11":"tag-community-impact","12":"tag-downtown-allen","13":"tag-events-in-allen","14":"tag-free-events-near-allen","15":"tag-news-in-allen","16":"tag-plano","17":"tag-plano-headlines","18":"tag-plano-news","19":"tag-texas-history","20":"tag-things-to-do-in-allen","21":"tag-things-to-do-in-allen-this-spring"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=152862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/152862\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/152863"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=152862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=152862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=152862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}