Allen, TX. Old Stone Dam. Allen Station Park. Fire Dept. Allen Americans Ice Hockey. Ice Angels. $60 Million Football Stadium. Wimbledon. Enigma Key.

 

For “Travel Tuesday”:  Let’s visit Allen, TX. 

It is a city in Collin County, Texas, United States, a northern suburb of Dallas, so it is in the Texas Prairies and Lakes Region.

“The Texas Prairies and Lakes Region offers a wide variety of destinations & attractions, from the fast-paced cosmopolitan excitement of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex with the best in shopping, dining & entertainment, to the beautiful lakes & laid-back country lifestyles found throughout the region. Discover the Excitement of the Texas Prairies & Lakes.”

Allen, Texas

“Prior to the arrival of the European and American immigrants into the Allen area, Caddo and Comanche Indian tribes inhabited the region. The Indian tribes migrated westward as the early settlers entered the area. The tribes were eventually removed to the Indian territory to the north of the Red River. One of the last known conflicts between the early settlers and the Indians took place in 1844 along Rowlett Creek near the existing railroad. A historic marker along SH 5 near Rowlett Creek commemorates the event.

Immigrants of European descent began arriving into the Allen area in the early 1840's in search of free land, traveling the Texas Road and the Central National Road constructed by the Republic of Texas. A stage line ran from Bonham through McKinney to Allen and Plano, crossing Rowlett Creek where SH 5 now crosses. Allen was part of the Peter's Colony Land Grant from the Republic of Texas to the Texas Emigration & Land Company

The Houston and Texas Central Railroad (H&TC), constructed through Allen in 1872, laid out the original township of Allen. The H&TC was acquired by J.P. Morgan & Company in1877 and by the Southern Pacific in 1883. In 1918, the H&TC erected a combination freight/passenger depot in the Allen Central Business District. The first train robbery in Texas took place in Allen on February 22, 1878, when Sam Bass and his associates pillaged the train. Allen was a short ride from their hideouts in the Elm Trinity brush lands.

In 1907 the Texas Traction Company (Interurban) purchased right-of-way on the west side of the H&TC main line track to construct the Interurban line through Allen as a stop on its route from Denison to Dallas (completed in 1908). In 1915 a devastating fire destroyed most of the business district between the Interurban tracts and the railroad. The Interurban closed in 1948 and the population of Allen declined to 400 in 1950.

The town was officially incorporated in 1953. Home Rule Status was adopted in 1979 with a Council/Manager form of government. The construction of US 75 in 1960 had a similar impact on Allen's future as the railroad almost a century before. In the 1980's, Developmental Learning Materials and InteCom, Inc. relocated to Allen, leading the way for further corporate startups and relocations.

The Allen Heritage Guild was established in 1996 to assure tomorrow's heritage by recording past and current milestones for the city.”

A Short History of Allen, Texas

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Tales of Allen - Old Stone Dam

”Host Craig Erickson takes us on a trip to Allen's old stone dam. The dam was used to fill steam engines on their way to Dallas and thus a town was built and the City of Allen was born.  Video at: Old Stone Dam

Allen Water Station

The Allen Water Station is a stone dam built in 1874 to provide water for steam locomotive trains on the Houston and Texas Central Railroad (H&TC) railway. The site includes the stone dam, a foundation for a pump house and a foundation for a water tower.

One of the only remaining stone dams in the United States.  Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the United States

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Allen Station Park

“Allen Station Park is a citywide (regional) park that includes baseball and softball fields, a playground, trails, washer courts, a concrete skate park, bmx track and roller hockey rinks. Allen's 1874 stone dam and railroad water station is located north of Exchange in Allen Station Park. 

Allen Station Park is basically comprised of three areas: The Edge Skate Park, Hydrous Wake Park, and Baseball/Softball fields. The visitor center/youth center, located at “the Edge” offers summer programs such as workshops on pastel art,video game design, movie creating & filming, & Lego engineering. They also offer instructional skateboard clinics at beginner and intermediate skill levels.  http://mytowntour.com/allen_station_park.html

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ALLEN HERITAGE GUILD

Preserving & Promoting Allen's Heritage and Spirit...

 

 

 

 

 

 

http://www.allenheritage.org/

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Allen Telephone Company - Allen, Texas

“In The Tales of Allen, Host Craig Erickson gives us a closer look at how early residents communicated by telephone.”

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History series about the City of Allen, Texas, 8 videos

 http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLDEF455363C6CA41D

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Allen chALLENge - Allen Fire Department

ACTV Host Marci Moon sees what it takes to perform the annual physical agility test from Allen, Texas Fire Rescue.

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Allen Americans

“The Allen Americans is an ice hockey team in the Central Hockey League which began play in the 2009–10 season.

 

 

They play at the Allen Event Center in Allen, Texas.

On May 11, 2013 the Allen Americans won the Ray Miron Presidents' Cup for the first time in front of a sold out crowd. It was a game 7 overtime win.”  Official Website: http://www.allenamericans.com

 

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Allen ChALLENge - Allen Americans Ice Angels

“In this episode of Allen ChALLENge, Marci Moon auditions to be an Allen Americans Ice Angel! Does she have what it takes, or is it going to be more than she expected?”

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Why Allen, Texas, Built a $60 Million High School Football Stadium  

“The $60 million, 18,000-seat football stadium at suburban Dallas‘ Allen High School, which opened Aug. 31, 2012, is generally discussed, at least outside of Texas, as the wretched excess of the state’s mania for high school football, the kind of schoolboy facility inspired by Jerry Jones‘ understated (that’s sarcasm) Cowboys Stadium. While everyone else — actually, Allen, Texas, too — was dealing with cuts in education funding that those in public schools feared would interfere with learning, here comes one town responding with its own anti-education initiative: a massive, taxpayer-funded monument to concussions.

But to the folks in Allen, Texas, all this discussion about the football stadium, even the tsk-tsking, should be OK. After all, the football stadium fits in with a strategy Allen, and many other far-out suburban cities of means have employed: take advantage of the community’s suburban wealth and open spaces to transform it into a location with its own image that will allow it to survive and thrive once its population boom settles down.”  More at: http://www.forbes.com/sites/bobcook/2012/08/13/why-allen-texas-built-a-60-million-high-school-football-stadium/

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On This Day:

Wimbledon tournament begins, Jul 9, 1877:

“On July 9, 1877, the All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club begins its first lawn tennis tournament at Wimbledon, then an outer-suburb of London. Twenty-one amateurs showed up to compete in the Gentlemen's Singles tournament, the only event at the first Wimbledon. The winner was to take home a 25-guinea trophy.

In the 1950s, many tennis stars turned professional while Wimbledon struggled to remain an amateur tournament. However, in 1968 Wimbledon welcomed the pros and quickly regained its status as the world's top tennis tournament.

The Wimbledon Championships, the only major tennis event still played on grass, is held annually in late June and early July.”

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Enigma key broken, Jul 9, 1941:

“On this day in 1941, crackerjack British cryptologists break the secret code used by the German army to direct ground-to-air operations on the Eastern front.

Now, with the German invasion of Russia, the Allies needed to be able to intercept coded messages transmitted on this second, Eastern, front. The first breakthrough occurred on July 9, regarding German ground-air operations, but various keys would continue to be broken by the Brits over the next year, each conveying information of higher secrecy and priority than the next.  (For example, a series of decoded messages nicknamed "Weasel" proved extremely important in anticipating German anti-aircraft and antitank strategies against the Allies.) These decoded messages were regularly passed to the Soviet High Command regarding German troop movements and planned offensives, and back to London regarding the mass murder of Russian prisoners and Jewish concentration camp victims.”

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Yesterday:

Most of the day I seemed to have a phone glued to my ear.  It was more tiring coping with different thick-accented techs trying to sort out what was wrong with my computer, than the moving of lumber the day before.

Then I was trying to get answers to some billing mysteries, so I spent lots of time on hold.  One needs to allow a lot of time when calling any business these days.  Are we better off being hi-tech?

 

Finally, I was informed by the contractor that he can’t start on my front porch roof extension until next Tuesday.