Community Leader
As a member of the town council of Providence from the early 1820s, was influential in introducing the first fire engine in the city. Later he was active and in the plannng and construction of city's first water works which opened in 1871.
Allen was one of the founders of the Providence Athenaeum in 1831. He was among the founders of the Rhode Island Historical Society, serving as its president in his later years. He was also a member of the Franklin Society for Promoting the Study of Science as well as the Rhode Island Society for the Encouragement of Domestic Industry.
In support of the working man, Allen was instrumental in the founding of the first free evening school in New England in 1840, and in the establishment of the Providence Association of Manufacturers and Mechanics. In 1845, he became one of the original trustees of Butler Hospital.
He was also active in the establishment of Roger Williams Park, in Providence. He was a member of the Protestant Episcopal Church, and attended St. John's Church for many years.
Zachariah Allen died on May 17, 1882 at his home on Magee Street in Providence. He is buried at North Burial Ground in Providence, where he served as a commissioner for thirty-two years. Mrs. Allen had died in 1873. The house on Magee Street which Allen had built in 1864 was acquired by Brown University in 1938, and is now occupied by the Brown Faculty Club.
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