Allen's Depot Is a Replica, but the Railroad Story Is Real

The Allen Train Depot at 100 East Main Street looks old, but the present building is a 2002-03 replica. The earlier depot was built around 1919 and burned in the late 1940s. The replica grounds also display a restored 1910 Ebenezer Allen No. 20 steam locomotive.

The rail link is older than either depot. Allen took shape around an 1876 Houston and Texas Central water stop on Cottonwood Creek. The town was named for Ebenezer Allen, a rail promoter and former Republic of Texas official.

Allen Heritage Village adds homes and churches to the story. The project began in 2002. It now has two restored churches, four homes, and a barn near Cottonwood Creek Trail. Its Prairie-style Allen Christian Church dates to 1918 and moved to the village in 2003.

A surviving 1913 Texas Electric interurban station stands nearby at 105 South Butler Street. It is a different building, not the depot replica. With the pieces kept apart, Allen's rail story comes into focus: an 1876 water stop, a lost depot, a modern copy, and an interurban station that survived.