Allen Allensworth, Former Slave Founded Town

The town of Allensworth, California, is one of a good number of Black townships that sprouted up in different parts of the country after the Civil War and beyond, as Jim Crow laws made life difficult. Allensworth was founded in 1908 by Lt. Colonel Allen Allensworth, a former slave who fought for the Union, and aspired to build a community where Black families could make a living and settle without fear.  

This is a photograph of Allensworth in his military uniform in 3/4 profile. He is decorated with at least four medals.

Though Allensworth succeeded for a brief time, getting the town established was far from easy. The very process of Black men finding a sizable chunk of land to buy was difficult. Most people did not want to sell to them. Finally, the consortium acquired land in Tulare County, about 45 miles north of Bakersfield.

But fate did not look kindly on Allensworth. After several years, a series of unfortunate incidents meant residents had to look elsewhere for work.

Rescued

In 1969, two Black Californians—Ed Pope and Ruth Lasartamay—who knew the story of Allensworth, realized that the “Allensworth” story needed to be told. They pushed for preservation of the town. In 1973, the state acquired the property, and a year later, California State Parks stepped in to restore several buildings and declare Allensworth a historic landmark.

On October 6, 1976, Allen Allensworth State Historic Park was dedicated.

Who Was Allen Allensworth?

Allen Allensworth (1842-1914) was born into an enslaved family in Kentucky in 1842. He was the youngest of 13. As a child, he was assigned to the white family’s boy. Allen began learning to read alongside his master. It was against the law for slaves to receive an education so his white mistress sent Allen to live with a Quaker woman. Allen was such an interested reader, the Quaker woman also helped him. When this was discovered, Allen was sent to work in the fields.

This image is a sketch from a book: The Men of Mark. Allensworth's hair is cropped short and he is wearing his uniform. The book is an anthology of short biographies of notable Black men.

Escape from Slavery

A few years later, Allen was sold to a man named Fred Scruggs who owned a stable of racehorses. Allen began as an exercise boy, and Scruggs soon found him to be a gifted jockey. In 1862, Scruggs and Allensworth, then 20, traveled to Louisville for a horse race.

In Louisville, Allensworth met Union soldiers from the 44th Illinois Volunteer Infantry Regiment who were in the area. When he expressed his longing for freedom, the Union soldiers invited him to join their unit and help out in the Hospital Corps.

When the infantry left Louisville, the soldiers loaned Allensworth a Union coat, and he covered his face with mud to mask his skin color. Encircled by his newfound friends, he got out of town without detection, ending his time of slavery. Allensworth remained with the 44th Regiment as a nursing aide for a time and then enlisted in the U.S. Navy.

After the Civil War

After the war, he and one of his brothers operated two restaurants in St. Louis. During that time, Allen put himself through Ely Normal School (a teaching school). The brothers then moved back to Louisville where Allensworth taught children connected to a Freedman’s Bureau.

Later, Allensworth attended Roger Williams University in Nashville to study theology where he met and married Josephine Leavell, a music teacher and pianist. The two of them moved back to Louisville where Allensworth oversaw the work of several churches. In 1880 and 1884, he was also Kentucky’s only Black delegate to the Republican National Conventions.

Becoming a Chaplain

In 1882, a Black soldier approached Allensworth to discuss a problem. While the U.S. military maintained two cavalry and two infantry units of African Americans, none of these units had a chaplain as the white regiments did.

The black-and-whte photograph shows a group of about 20 people--mostly children--dressed up for their photograph. The girls are mostly wearing white. Some of the boys have casual jackets on.
Children in the Allensworth community. The woman on the left might be a teacher.

Allensworth took the fellow’s plea seriously. It took two years of letter-writing to members of Congress and President Grover Cleveland, but he was finally named chaplain. He held this position for 20 years. His first assignment was at Fort Douglas in Utah.

His wife and two daughters then followed Allensworth to Fort Apache in Arizona to Camp Reynolds (California) and to Fort Missoula (Montana). Allensworth used his work as an opportunity to provide spiritual comfort but also to emphasize the importance of education.

Based on what Allen Allensworth learned while teaching on various posts, he wrote a Course of Study Outline and a book called Rules Governing Post Schools. It became the standard army manual for the education of enlisted personnel.

Shortly before his retirement, Allensworth was promoted to be a lieutenant colonel, making him the first Black officer to receive this rank.

Founding a Town

After he retired, he and his family settled in Los Angeles where he connected with four other concerned citizens: educator William Payne, former miner John W. Palmer, minister William H. Peck, and Harry A. Mitchell, a real estate agent.

This is the emblem created to mark the centennial of Allensworth (1908-2008).  There is a sketch of Allensworth wearing a hat with what might be a school behind him.

The men were troubled by the societal issues of the early twentieth century—it was an era of segregation, Jim Crow laws, and lynchings. The group envisioned a town where Blacks could find peace and have the opportunity to control their own destiny. They formed the California Colony and Home Promotion Association with offices in downtown Los Angeles. But they immediately encountered difficulty; no one wanted to sell them land.

Finally, they were approached by the Pacific Farming Company, a white-owned rural land development group that offered them acreage in Solito, thirty miles north of Bakersfield. The land was fertile, there was water, and best of all, it was a station stop for the Santa Fe Railroad as it passed from Los Angeles to San Francisco.

Allensworth, The Town

Within a year, 35 families moved to the area. Soon there were two general stores, a post office, a school, and eventually a library. The streets were named for Black leaders such as Sojourner Truth and Frederick Douglass. The families that settled there built a strong sense of community through creation of many organizations including a sewing circle, a theatre group, and a choir.

But then the town’s luck turned. Lt. Colonel Allensworth was visiting Monrovia for a lecture in September 1914, and he was hit and killed by two white boys on a speeding motorcycle. Was it an accident or intentional? Nothing was ever proven but Allensworth’s death left a spiritual gap in his still-new town. That same year, the Santa Fe Railroad, which had refused to hire African Americans to staff the Allensworth train station, built a spur line so that most trains no longer stopped in Allensworth.

Two white wooden structures stand out in this photograph of Allensworth. The sky looks threatening but the town looks well.
This is a distant view of the town of Allensworth, probably taken in the 1940s

Water Reduction

In addition, the Pacific Farming Company began to pull back on their contractual obligation to provide the town with adequate water. Whether this was a long-range scheme or whether they just found they could more profitably sell the water elsewhere is not clear.

The town eventually won a court case against Pacific Farming, but by the time the legal decision was handed down, the town’s public water system was antiquated. People began drifting to other towns to find work.

Today

While things continued to seem grim for Allensworth to ever make a comeback, two nonprofits recently stepped in to try to help the area. The Friends of Allensworth along with the Allensworth Progressive Association eventually decided that agriculture and education could put the town on the right track. 

In 1969, Ed Pope and Eugene and Ruth Lasartemay realized that if they didn’t take action all reminders of Allensworth were going to be lost. They started campaigning for preservation of the town to honor those who had founded it and set the example that Black families could make their own way. In 1973, the state acquired the property and the department of Parks and Recreation approved plans to develop it. The Allen Allensworth State Historic Park was dedicated on Oct 6, 1976. The current website includes a virtual tour which gives a wonderful sense of place.

A roadside remembrance of Allen Allensworth and the town he founded. The top is a circular piece with a sketch of Allensworth; the bottom is a plaque explaining his achievements.

In 2007, Dennis Huston saw the wisdom of this plan and purchased 60 acres in the area with a plan for organic farming. He began with rabbits as he knew that rabbit manure was one of the most nutritious of all manures, so it would sell well.  He also got in touch with the California Farm Academy and the Center for Land Based Learning with the intention of training others. Huston eventually qualified for the agency’s Beginning Farmer and Farmworker Training Grant.

In 2022, the state allocated $40 million to the region so that these groups could help move the Allensworth plan forward.  

***To read about other Blacks who fought in the Civil War, start with William Carney, a Medal of Honor recipient.

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6 thoughts on “Allen Allensworth, Former Slave Founded Town”

  1. Kate, thank you so much for the Allen Allensworth story. Your California readers may want to visit Colonel Allensworth State Historic Park during one of the five the Friends of Allensworth special events scheduled for 2012. They are listed on our website. http://friendsofallensworthsandiego.com/calendar.htm

    Sincerely,

    Stephen Hill, Sr.
    Friends of Allensworth
    San Diego Chapter No 12
    http:blogforallensworth.blogspot.com

  2. Stephanie Finney

    Allen Allensworth is a ancestor of mine. His brother, George Allesworth was my great,great, great grandfather. I read his biography and have enjoyed learning about him.

  3. Pingback: Random Black History Facts | Tlj

  4. The courage and determination of Allen Allensworth should inspire us all to enrich the lives of those we encounter, however we’re able, so they may also reach their full potential in life. Reaching one’s full potential is pure joy and how we escape hatred and oppression. It’s what America should be about.

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