Richard Allen

Born enslaved in Virginia and brought to Texas in 1837, Richard Allen emerged as an influential community and political leader in Houston after emancipation. He was a skilled carpenter, contractor, mechanic and bridge builder. Allen attended Antioch Missionary Baptist Church and became a federal voter registrar in 1867 and a Freedmen's Bureau agent in 1868. He was a trustee of the Gregory Institute, established in 1870 as the first public school for Negro students in the Fourth Ward. He was a founding member of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge Free & Accepted Masons of Texas, Magnolia Lodge No. 3, established in 1875. Allen was a trustee of the Colored People of Harris County Festival Association, which purchased this 10-acre tract in 1872 that became Emancipation Park. He occasionally served on the finance committee and as grand president and orator at Juneteenth celebrations. He had a distinguished political career as a member of the Republican Twelfth Legislature (1870-71), was elected to the Thirteenth Legislature (1873), and was also a Texas delegate to state Republican conventions. He served as Houston street commissioner and deputy collector of customs for the Port of Houston. Allen was instrumental in helping to improve education for Blacks and in developing the state's transportation system.

Houston, Texas · United States