The History of Allen, Texas
Allen has one story it will never stop telling, and it's a good one: in 1878 the outlaw Sam Bass robbed a train right at the Allen depot — the first train robbery in Texas history. Everything else about the town's first century was quieter railroad-and-farming business. Then Collin County boomed, and Allen turned into a fast-growing suburb best known today for a high school football stadium that cost more than most college teams'.
A Railroad Town (1870–1900)
Allen was established in 1870 and named for Ebenezer Allen, a former Texas attorney general who helped promote the railroad. That railroad — the Houston & Texas Central — reached town in 1872 and gave Allen its reason to exist, hauling out the cotton and grain of the surrounding Blackland farms. It was a small, ordinary depot community, the kind of place that would have stayed a footnote if not for one February night.
Sam Bass and the First Train Robbery (1878)
On February 22, 1878, Sam Bass and five other men held up the southbound Houston & Texas Central passenger train when it stopped at the Allen station — the first train robbery in Texas. They cracked the safe for about $1,280, mostly in silver coins, and rode off to the northwest. Bass had bigger scores elsewhere, but the Allen robbery put the town in the history books, and it still celebrates the episode with a Sam Bass Day, where local students reenact the holdup. History has since decided Bass was 'probably more inept than brave,' but a good outlaw story never really goes away.
The Boom and the Stadium (1990s–Today)
Allen stayed small for a long time, then rode the Collin County growth wave into a city of more than 100,000. Subdivisions and retail — the Allen Premium Outlets, the Watters Creek district — filled in the farmland along US-75. And Allen made national news for something very Texas: in 2012 the school district opened a high school football stadium that cost around $60 million, a monument to how seriously this part of the state takes Friday nights. The railroad town that Sam Bass robbed became a prosperous suburb that builds cathedrals to high school football.
Timeline
1870
Allen is established, named for former Texas attorney general Ebenezer Allen.
1872
The Houston & Texas Central Railroad reaches Allen.
1878
Sam Bass robs a train at the Allen depot — the first train robbery in Texas.
2012
Allen ISD opens a roughly $60 million high school football stadium, drawing national attention.
Notable People
Ebenezer Allen
Former Texas attorney general and railroad promoter for whom the city of Allen is named.
Sam Bass
Outlaw who carried out Texas's first train robbery at the Allen station in 1878, an event the city still commemorates.
FAQ: History of Allen
Yes. On February 22, 1878, Sam Bass and five accomplices robbed a Houston & Texas Central passenger train at the Allen depot — the first train robbery in Texas history. They got away with about $1,280, mostly in silver.
The city is named for Ebenezer Allen, a former attorney general of Texas who helped promote the railroad that ran through the town.
In 2012 Allen ISD opened a high school football stadium costing roughly $60 million — one of the most expensive in the country — which drew national attention as a symbol of Texas high school football culture.
Allen was established in 1870 to serve the Houston & Texas Central Railroad, which arrived in 1872. It remained a small farming town until Collin County's late-20th-century growth turned it into a large suburb.
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