ALLEN CHAPEL, TEXAS. Allen Chapel, a mile south of Ratcliff off State Highway 7 in eastern Houston County, was established in the 1870s by the emancipated slaves of area landowners. An African Methodist Episcopal church was organized there around 1900 and built a building in 1903 on land purchased from Nat Allen, after whom the community was named. A one-room schoolhouse was built in 1910. In the mid-1930s the community comprised the church, the school, and a number of houses. The school building was moved to Kennard in 1968 but returned in 1985. In the early 1990s Allen Chapel was a dispersed farming community with a church, a community center, and a number of houses. Descendents of many original settlers still lived in the area.
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Houston County Historical Commission, History of Houston County, Texas, 1687–1979 (Tulsa, Oklahoma: Heritage, 1979). Houston County Cemeteries (Crockett, Texas: Houston County Historical Commission, 1977; 3d ed. 1987). Marker Files, Texas Historical Commission, Austin.
