Mark E. Allen

Mark E. Allen was a Billerica Centre automobile dealer and garage keeper who was chief of the fire department's Board of Engineers and the town's forest warden in 1917, and Town Clerk from 1921 to 1925. With J. Edward Allen he ran the Allen Auto Company, to which the town was already paying bills, among them for gasoline, in 1915; the Lowell suburban directory of 1919 lists the company, "J Edward and Mark E Allen," as dealers in automobiles with a garage on Boston Road opposite the common, and bowling alleys at the same address. In 1921 the directory placed the Allen Auto Co. on Concord Road and the Allen Bowling Alleys on Boston Road opposite the common. He lived on Boston Road with his wife, Ella S. Allen.

In 1917 he and Frank L. Davison were the town's fire engineers, and he signed the department's report for the year as chief. He was also the Forest Warden. His report ends with the department's saddest work of the year: "The entire department was in service to assist in grappling for the bodies of Hazel Culver, Laura Hubbard and Philip D. Morton, who were drowned in the Concord River." That year town meeting named a committee to buy a motor fire truck and build a new station at the Centre, and when the station opened in 1918 Ernest Newell Bartlett had succeeded him as chief.

He was first elected town clerk in March 1921, following Albert S. Bull, with 553 votes to 448 for James P. Condon and 234 for William H. Butterfield. The clerk was then chosen every year, and he was returned four times: over Robert E. Spencer in 1922, 976 to 272; over Condon and Butterfield again in 1923, 476 to 442 and 115; narrowly over Condon in 1924, 707 to 664; and without opposition in 1925, with 1,225 votes. As clerk he sat ex officio on the Board of Registrars with James J. Campbell, Albert H. Richardson and Dennis J. Mahoney, and he attested the records of the town meetings and elections. On February 12, 1923, he appointed Ella S. Allen the town's first assistant town clerk and administered her oath of office, and he reappointed her in 1925. He also held a commission as a justice of the peace, which the 1925 directory shows running to March 2, 1928. Roland G. Wright was town clerk by 1926.

References

1. Billerica Town Report 1915 (1915-1919 volume): payments to the Allen Auto Co.
2. Billerica Town Report 1917 (1915-1919 volume), town officers: Engineers of Fire Department, Mark E. Allen, Frank L. Davison; Forest Warden, Mark E. Allen
3. Billerica Town Report 1917 (1915-1919 volume), town meeting: committee to purchase fire truck and to build fire station, Ralph E. Manning, John A. Richardson, Ernest N. Bartlett
4. Billerica Town Report 1917 (1915-1919 volume), Fire Department report: department grappling for the bodies of Hazel Culver, Laura Hubbard and Philip D. Morton, drowned in the Concord River; Board of Engineers, Mark E. Allen, Chief
5. Billerica Town Report 1918 (1915-1919 volume), Report of Fire Engineers: new Fire Station at the Centre; Chief E. N. Bartlett
6. Billerica Town Report 1921 (1920-1924 volume), annual election: Town Clerk, Mark E. Allen 553, James P. Condon 448, William H. Butterfield 234
7. Billerica Town Report 1922 (1920-1924 volume), annual election: Town Clerk, Mark E. Allen 976, Robert E. Spencer 272
8. Billerica Town Report 1923 (1920-1924 volume), annual election: Town Clerk, Mark E. Allen 476, James P. Condon 442, William H. Butterfield 115
9. Billerica Town Report 1923 (1920-1924 volume): February 12, 1923, Town Clerk Mark E. Allen appoints Ella S. Allen Assistant Town Clerk
10. Billerica Town Report 1924 (1920-1924 volume), annual election: Town Clerk, Mark E. Allen 707, James P. Condon 664
11. Billerica Town Report 1925, annual election: Town Clerk, Mark E. Allen 1,225
12. Lowell Suburban Directory 1921, business directory, Billerica: Allen Auto Co, Concord rd
13. Lowell Suburban Directory 1921, business directory, Billerica: Allen Bowling Alleys, Boston rd opp common
14. Lowell Suburban Directory 1925, justices of the peace, Billerica: Allen Mark E, commission expires Mar 2 1928