Charles Herbert Allen
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Charles Herbert Allen was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on April 15, 1848 and died at his Rolfe Street home in Lowell on April 20, 1934. The home still stands as the Allen House on the South Campus of the University of Massachusetts Lowell.
One of Lowell's foremost citizens, Allen had a very active business and political career as well as being an artist, musician, and cabinet-maker. He attended public and private schools and, after graduating from Amherst College in 1869, Allen worked at his father's lumber and wooden box company, Otis Allen & Son. Later he became a trustee of Amherst College and was honored with an LL.D. degree in 1900. Allen was married to Harriet C. Dean of Manchester, New Hampshire in 1870 and together they raised two daughters.
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[edit] Politics
Allen's political career encompassed the Lowell School Committee, where he was instrumental in starting the Lowell Evening Schools; two terms in the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1881 and 1882; one term in the Massachusetts Senate in 1883; and elected as a Republican to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses, March 4, 1885 to March 3, 1889. Allen was nominated for governor by the Republicans in 1890 but was defeated by William E. Russell.
In 1884, he received the title "Colonel," when Governor George Dexter Robinson appointed him to his personal staff. Allen's large circle of friends always used this designation when addressing him. He also served as Massachusetts Prison Commissioner from 1897 to 1898.
In 1898 President William McKinley named Allen Assistant Secretary of the Navy when Theodore Roosevelt resigned the post to enter the Spanish-American War. He held this position from 1898 to 1900. At the end of the war President McKinley appointed Allen as the first civil governor of Puerto Rico. Allen retired from this post in 190] with the island government out of debt and with over one million dollars in its treasury.
[edit] Private life
Upon his return home to Lowell, he became financially interested in banking and other enterprises and served on the board of directors for several banks and businesses in Lowell and New York. Allen served as vice president of the Morton Trust Co. and of the Guaranty Trust Co. of New York and as president of the American Sugar Refining Company.
Twenty-seven landscape and marine paintings, which demonstrate only one of Allen's diverse talents, are in the collection of the Whistler House Museum of Art in Lowell.
[edit] References
- Davenport's Art Reference 2001/2002, page 73; Courier Citizen, April 21, 1934;
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress;
- Whistler House Museum of Art files.
- Peter Kostoulakos, ISA ? Fine Art Consultant
[edit] External link
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Charles Herbert Allen at Find-A-Grave
| Preceded by William A. Russell |
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts's 8th congressional district March 4, 1885 – March 3, 1889 |
Succeeded by Frederic T. Greenhalge |
| Preceded by George Whitefield Davis |
Governor of Puerto Rico 1900-1901 |
Succeeded by William Henry Hunt |
