John W. Allen

Who was John W. Allen?

John William Allen was a lawyer and politician from Ohio.

John W. Allen was born in Litchfield, Connecticut in August, 1802. He was the son of Representative John Allen. He attended preparatory schools and moved to Chenango County, New York in 1818. He received a classical education and studied law.

Allen moved to Cleveland, Ohio in 1825, and studied law under judge Samuel Cowles and became a leader of the bar. He was president of the village 1831-1835, a member of the board of directors of the Commercial Bank of Lake Erie in 1832, and one of the incorporators of the Cleveland and Newburgh Railroad Company in 1834.

Allen was an organizer of the Ohio Railroad in 1836, and served in the Ohio State Senate 1836-37. He was elected to the 25th and 26th Congresses as a Whig, and served March 4, 1837-March 3, 1841. He was elected Mayor of Cleveland in 1841.

In 1845, Allen was elected president of the Cleveland, Columbus and Cincinnati Railroad, and was a delegate to the first convention on river and harbor improvement, held in Chacago in 1847. When the Whig party dissolved in the 1850s, he joined with the Republicans.