Shirley township, Mount Union borough

Allenport, Laid Out in 1905

On February 11, 1905, Allen S. Welch bought the George P. Miller farm at public sale. The land lay just southeast of Mount Union, along the State road to Shirleysburg. Part of the farm was surveyed into building lots, and Welch laid out and named the new suburb, Allenport. Today the Census Bureau's current geography places Allenport in Shirley Township.

Much of what follows comes from Charles Howard Welch's history of Mount Union, printed in 1909 and 1910 at the Mount Union Times office, where he and his father, Allen S. Welch, were the editors. He wrote that the lots sold readily, and that his father built a number of dwellings there and rented or sold them on easy terms, giving laboring men a chance at homes of their own.

The history, written in 1909 and 1910, counted about 25 dwellings in Allenport, along with a grocery store, the seed store and greenhouse of C. S. Fouse, and a schoolhouse. A city water line had been extended to the village and its streets sewered. Lloyd S. Bare was also selling lots off his farm, and a number of dwellings had gone up there. The plant of the Juniata Oak Extract Company was just south of the village.

The history names Jos. W. Crawford as one of the first men to locate in Allenport and the first to open a store there. He came to the area in 1906 and died on July 30, 1909. His sons and widow then ran the store, which carried groceries and confections.

The history's chapter on the Methodist church says a Sunday school was organized at Allenport “this summer,” and that it now numbers about 100. A Methodist church was then going up there, its cornerstone laid on December 5, 1909.

The history also says Allen S. Welch had contracted and erected 50 or more buildings, principally dwellings, since he entered the lumber business, among them a brick building on Jefferson Street and the Odd Fellows' Hall.

Checked against the record. Most of this story rests on one book, Charles Howard Welch's history of Mount Union, read in the page scans at each cited page. Its author is the son of the man who laid out Allenport, and the book is warm toward him, so its praise is the family's own account. The book gives no year for the Sunday school. It says “this summer,” and says the first installment of the history ran in the Mount Union Times on September 10, 1909, so the summer of 1909 is our reading. We also checked the Census Bureau's current geography. The National Register nomination for the Mount Union Historic District says Allen S. Welch built at least 50 homes in Allenport. That does not match the book's count of about 25 dwellings there, so we leave the nomination's figure out. Still open: the 1905 deed from Miller to Welch, any water or sewer records, and Huntingdon newspapers for February 1905 and December 1909. The book's storekeeper appears as Jos. W. Crawford, and we have not confirmed his full first name. His death date rests on the book alone.

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