• Home
• Politicians
• Frank G. Allen

Frank G. Allen Politician

Frank G. Allen (October 6, 1874 – October 9, 1950) was the 51st Governor of Massachusetts.Allen was born in Lynn, Massachusetts, on October 6, 1874. A businessman and executive with the Winslow Brothers & Smith Company from 1893, he rose to become the company's president from 1912 to 1929, and was married to Clara Winslow in 1897.He entered public service as a member of the Norwood, Massachusetts, 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 runningmate James Henry Brennan with fellow Republican Governor Alvan T. Fuller from 1925 to 1929, when he succeeded Fuller as Governor, and served until 1931.During the administration of Governor Allen, he established the Massachusetts Transit Authority (now the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority), the Massachusetts Port Authority, and the state's Industrial Commission. He expanded facilities to care for the sick and the indigent, and in an unusual move for the times, appointed two women to judgeships in Massachusetts. He also signed the bill granting the Eastern Nazarene College the power to grant degrees in Massachusetts on March 12, 1930, after the school defended its petition before the General Court.In 1930, Governor Allen was defeated for re-election by Democrat Joseph B. Ely, and returned to the Winslow Brothers & Smith Company, where he served as Chairman of the Board until his death.Allen died in 1950, and is buried in Highland Cemetery in Norwood, Massachusetts. He was survived by his wife, Eleanor Wallace Allen, his son Frank Allen, Jr. and his daughters Mrs. Frances V. Crane (Mary Winslow Allen Crane) and Marjorie Allen Tranchin.