In its early days, Glen Allen, Alabama, was known as Stewart's Gap and took its later name from the last names of two engineers who worked with the railroad company. In early 1889, lots were laid out along the rail tracks, with the railroad serving as the center of business, and the railroad became the backbone of the early settlement by helping move passengers and products east and west. Steam locomotives first ran over the tracks, and one of the first items shipped from Glen Allen by train was unwashed sand, loaded by hand onto rail cars with wheelbarrows by men at a sand pit owned and operated by the William Henry Stewart family. Other early shipments included cross ties, lumber, cotton, cotton seed, sassafras oil, and coal. Consisting of three 40-acre blocks of land in Fayette and Marion Counties, Glen Allen was incorporated in May 1959, with J. P. Gilstrap as first mayor and Roy Aldridge, Johnny Dozier, David Franks, W. M. Logan, and W. H. Stewart as town council members. Additional land was annexed in 1961, a public water system was constructed in 1967, and land on the south side of town, including Hubbertville School, was annexed in 1968, with the water system extended south to serve the school. The 1970s and 80s brought prosperity with many new residences and businesses locating within the town limits, the need for potable water assistance prompted the annexation of the Bazemore community in the 1990s, and in 2006 land west of town encompassing the Elm Church community was annexed.