Allen's Grove
Pliny and Sidney Allen came from Rochester, New York, in 1844, and having reached the western border of the county in their search for a favorable
site on which to build a village of their own, they bought more than one thousand acres of land, mostly in sections 1 of Clinton, 6 of Sharon, and 31
of Darien, on the high ground west of the south branch of Turtle creek. In May, 1845, they came again with their brothers, Harvey and Philip, Jr.,
bringing also their families and three or four more, unrelated mechanics, sixty-five in all. They lodged at Darien the aged father and their sister and
others not hardened to the work of chopping and building, quickly made ready their cabins, and Allen's Grove at once became a village. In July Philip
Allen, Sr., died. In August a religious society was formed. The next year brought the eldest brother, Asa Keyes Allen, his son, Dr. Joseph C. Allen,
and son-in-law, Ezra P. Teale, all from Ypsilanti. These two younger men built a store and stocked it with general goods to the amount of six thousand
dollars. In that year Preston H. Allen was born, but it is not told who were his parents, whether he was a son or a grandson of one of the brothers; and
in that year Preston W. Smith married Frances Schofield. Mary Wallingford taught the rudiments in a room over the store. In 1847 a public school house
was built.
The village was formally platted in 1852, with Clinton street, its northern limit lying along the Darien line.