In 1827, Captain Moses Allen, a veteran of the War of 1812, led his family from Wayne County to Michigan traveling by sledge along a frozen trail.  Allen had been a member of the group that surveyed the Chicago Road.  He liked the area so much that he returned with his family two years later, looking for a place to settle.

Antique Shop in Allen

A local Native American, Chief Baw Beese, welcomed the family helping them however he could and becoming such friends with Captain and Mrs. Allen that they shared a peace pipe with him. Both his log cabin home, now a small historic museum, and a plaque in his honor are located on the west end of town.

Allen is now home to numerous antique shops and is known as the Antique Capital of Michigan. Visitors from all over the country come to Allen to shop for antiques.  It is estimated that if you stopped at each of the booths in every antique mall for just one minute it would take you 2 1/2 days to see them all.

Preston's Antique Gaslight Village

Preston's Antique Gaslight Villlage has a collection of over twenty buildings dating between 1835 and 1925, all of which were at one time within a 50-mile radius of Allen.

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