Lewis F. Allen's cattle path became Allen Street, and the Allentown district it named spreads in front of you in Buffalo, New York. This neighborhood takes its name from Lewis F. Allen, born 1800 and died 1890, who came to Buffalo in April 1827 to serve as Corporate Secretary and financial manager of an insurance company. Allen was also a farmer; when he looked for space to let his cattle graze, his neighbor Thomas Day suggested land between the cities of Buffalo and Black Rock.
That cattle path became Allen Street, a simple trace that gave the neighborhood its identity. Allen helped shape civic life here: he was one of the founders of the Buffalo Historical Society and of Forest Lawn Cemetery, where he is buried. He was married to Margaret Cleveland Allen, the paternal aunt of future president Grover Cleveland, and Allen introduced Cleveland to many influential people, including the partners in the law firm of Rogers, Bowen, and Rogers, where Cleveland later took a clerkship that led him to practice law and enter politics.
Allentown sits as the first neighborhood north of the Downtown Buffalo core, bordering the downtown theater and entertainment district to its south and running north to North Street. Picture that old cattle path Lewis Allen cleared for grazing, now known as Allen Street, the spine of this neighborhood.