F. G. Allen

Frank Gilman Allen (October 6, 1874 – October 9, 1950) was an American 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 the 49th lieutenant governor, and then one as the 51st governor of Massachusetts. He was a major proponent of development in Norwood, donating land and funds for a number of civic improvements.

Early years

Allen was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, on October 6, 1874, the son of Abbie Louise (Gilman) and Frank Mitchell Allen. He 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 worked in the tannery of Francis O. Winslow. Allen rose to become president of the Winslow Brothers & Smith Company, a position he held from 1912 to 1929, and married Winslow's daughter Clara in 1897. Allen was for many years a business partner of George Willett, who had married another of Winslow's daughters. The two men were major influences in the modernization of Norwood's civic infrastructure, spearheading a number of projects, from the construction of schools to a new hospital.

Allen maintained a summer residence on Marblehead Neck from 1923 until his death. Clara Winslow Allen, with whom Allen had a daughter, died in 1924, and he remarried in 1927, to Eleanor Hamilton Wallace.

Political career

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 running mate 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.