Frank G. Allen

Frank G. Allen
51st Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 3, 1929 – January 8, 1931
Lieutenant	William S. Youngman
Preceded by	Alvan T. Fuller
Succeeded by	Joseph B. Ely
49th Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts
In office January 8, 1925 – January 3, 1929
Governor	Alvan T. Fuller
Preceded by	Alvan T. Fuller
Succeeded by	William S. Youngman
President of the Massachusetts Senate
In office 1921–1924
Preceded by	Edwin T. McKnight
Succeeded by	Wellington Wells
Member of the Massachusetts Senate Norfolk Senatorial District
In office 1921–1924
Member of The Massachusetts House of Representatives 8th Norfolk District
In office January 1918 – January 1920
Chairman of the Norwood, Massachusetts Board of Selectmen
In office 1914–1919
Chairman of the Norwood, Massachusetts Board of Assessors
In office 1909–1913
Personal details
Born	October 6, 1874 Lynn, Massachusetts
Died	October 9, 1950 (aged 76) Norwood, Massachusetts
Political party	Republican
Profession	Leather and Wool merchant
Religion	Congregationalist

Frank Gilman Allen (October 6, 1874 – October 9, 1950) was a businessman and politician from Massachusetts. He was president of a successful leathergoods business in Norwood, Massachusetts, and active in local and state politics. A Republican, he served two terms as Lieutenant Governor, and then one as the 51st Governor of Massachusetts. During his term, the Massachusetts Transit Authority (now the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority) was founded.

Biography

Allen was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, on October 6, 1874, and was educated in local schools. Although he won admission to Harvard University, he lacked the funds to attend, and instead began working Lynn's shoe industry. He later moved to Norwood, where he rose to become president of the Winslow Brothers & Smith Company, a position he held from 1912 to 1929. He married Clara Winslow in 1897.

Allen entered public service as a member of the Norwood Board of Assessors from 1910 to 1915 and as a Norwood Town Selectman from 1915 to 1922. During that period, he also served in the Massachusetts House of Representatives from 1918 to 1919, and in the Massachusetts Senate from 1921 to 1924. In 1924, he was elected Lieutenant Governor of Massachusetts, having defeated the Democratic ticket of James Michael Curley and runningmate James Henry Brennan with fellow Republican Governor Alvan T. Fuller. Fuller and Allen served two terms, after which Allen succeeded Fuller as governor, and served until 1931.

During the administration of Governor Allen, he established the Massachusetts Transit Authority (now the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority), the Massachusetts Port Authority, and the state's Industrial Commission. He expanded facilities to care for the sick and the indigent, and in an unusual move for the times, appointed two women to judgeships in Massachusetts. He also signed the bill granting the Eastern Nazarene College the power to grant degrees in Massachusetts on March 12, 1930, after the school defended its petition before the General Court.^[1]

In 1930, Governor Allen was defeated for re-election by Democrat Joseph B. Ely, and returned to the Winslow Brothers & Smith Company, where he served as Chairman of the Board until his death.

Allen died in 1950, and is buried in Norwood's Highland Cemetery. He was survived by his second wife, Eleanor Wallace Allen, a son, and two daughters.

Notes and references

1. Cameron, James R. (1968). Eastern Nazarene College—The First Fifty Years, 1900-1950. Kansas City: Nazarene Publishing House. pp. 194–195.