Alanreed tried on Spring Tank, Prairie Dog Town, and Gouge Eye

Alanreed began along the stage line between Mobeetie and Clarendon. Farmers selected a site in the McClellan Creek basin in the early 1880s, and a post office called Eldridge opened six miles north in 1886. The present townsite did not appear until a railroad surveyor laid it out in 1900.

The community tried several names along the way. Springtown and Spring Tank referred to a large spring-fed tank. Prairie Dog Town came from a nearby colony. Gouge Eye came from a saloon fight.

The present name was reportedly taken from a contracting firm called Alan and Reed. It became official when the Eldridge post office moved south to the railroad and was renamed in 1902. The Rock Island line reached town in 1903 and turned Alanreed into a cattle-shipping point.

By 1904, Alanreed led Gray County's towns in size. Three years later it had a bank, hotel, depot, two churches, a saloon, and a blacksmith shop. Watermelon shipments were reported to average 500 railroad cars a year. The interstate passes quickly now, but Alanreed's old names still carry its stage, saloon, railroad, and farm years.