Houston’s forgotten female founder
Charlotte Allen, the woman the history books leave out
March is National Women’s History Month. But here’s the thing about women and history: The former are largely absent from the latter.
That’s not to say that women didn’t participate in societal progress. Not at all. It’s just that, given women’s position as second-class citizens for the majority of American (and Texan) history, women usually didn’t make the cut when (male) authors and historians decided which and whose stories to write.
But you knew that already. Just like you knew that the city of Houston — this wide, vibrant mess of a metropolis — was founded in 1836 by the Allen brothers, a pair of real-estate speculators: Augustus C. Allen and his younger brother, John Kirby Allen.
Except it wasn’t just them. It’s likely this swath of swamp never would have grown to a major city if it hadn’t been for Augustus’ wife, Charlotte.
“Charlotte Allen is the one who actually played probably a more significant role than either of the two Allen brothers,” says former Houston Mayor Annise Parker, a Charlotte Allen fan.
Charlotte Allen grew up in Baldwinsville, N.Y., a small town named for her family. Near Syracuse, Baldwinsville was known for its access to the Seneca River and later the Erie Canal. Her father, Jonas Cutler Baldwin, made a fortune developing riverfront property.
“Her dad was in the port business, and she was raised in that atmosphere,” says Suzan Deison, CEO of the Greater Houston Women’s Chamber of Commerce. In recent years, Deison has dedicated huge chunks of time to uncovering Charlotte’s contribution to the city’s founding, even traveling to Baldwinsville to learn more about her family.
When Charlotte met her husband, Augustus was unemployed, after a stint teaching math in a nearby town. Deison speculates that he saw marrying Charlotte as a rare opportunity.
“Her dad left her money — about $2,000, which back then was a lot of money,” she says. “He left the girls cash because women couldn’t own land or a business back then.”
It was a prime opportunity for Augustus Allen to gain access to cash. But there was something in it for Charlotte, too: a rare chance for a young woman to set out from her small hometown.
So they went to Texas. In 1836, barely a month after Texas had won its independence from Mexico, Augustus and John Kirby Allen bought their swampland and gave it the River City hard sell. Days after their land purchase, they wrote an ad.
“There is no place in Texas more healthy, having an abundance of excellent spring water, and enjoying a sea breeze in all its freshness,” the ad proclaimed.
The ad didn’t mention mosquitoes. It’s likely that a bite caused the fever that killed John Kirby Allen only two years later.
Charlotte and Augustus disagreed over how to divide John’s estate, and in 1850, they separated. Augustus left Texas. But first, he deeded her all his land in Houston, which was valued at more than $800,000 — more than $20 million in today’s dollars.
He had plenty of male relatives who’d moved to Houston, but the court documents — all handwritten — awarded the property to Charlotte.
“Makes sense,” says Deison, who contends this is further proof that Charlotte’s contribution was greater than prior historians asserted.
Just before Parker left office, the city was given a pair of statues depicting the Allen brothers.
“They’re supposedly life-size statues, and they’re not very imposing men,” Parker says. “I don’t know how tall she was, but I’ve seen pictures of Charlotte Allen. This is a woman not to be messed with — she’s a very imposing figure.”
A tough lady who perhaps wasn’t afraid to wield her influence, Parker speculates.
“This is not someone who was shy or afraid of taking risks, and she had a sense of her own selfworth.”
Charlotte stayed in Houston for another 45 years, until her death in 1895. She donated what is now Market Square to the city. She came to be known as a businesswoman, even registering her own cattle brand in 1838, and eventually running a slaughterhouse as part of her cattle operation. She oversaw the sale of many properties, including the site of what became the Rice Hotel. (It sold for $12,000 in 1857; that would be about $330,000 today.) Legend has it she’s even the brains behind the idea to name the city after Sam Houston, the hero of the Battle of San Jacinto.
Yet a deep dive into historical documents casts her merely as a supporting character.
In 1956, the Chronicle published a story about a new school bearing her name, characterizing her by the relationship to men in her life rather than her own actions. “Wife of one of Houston’s founders, Mrs. Allen was the daughter of J.C. Baldwin, founder of Baldwinsville, N.Y.,” it reads.
There has been progress. In 2009, a historic marker was erected in her honor at Glenwood Cemetery, where she’s buried.
“As we digitize more records and are able to get more into history, with every revelation it becomes more clear how important Charlotte Allen was to every aspect of the founding of the city and the flourishing of the city,” former Mayor Parker says. “She may have been the real strength in the initiative to found Houston.”
But to Parker, it still seems that Charlotte is unfairly eclipsed by the Allen brothers. “Charlotte Allen, whether she was ignored by history or written out of history, I think it’s important to go back to the fact that she persisted, she endured, she had grit,” Parker says. “Everything that came at her, she took it and did something with it.”