Ivan Earnest Allen, Sr.

http://www.georgiaencyclopedia.org/articles/government-politics/iva...

Ivan Allen, Sr. was co-founder of the Ivan Allen Company (1900), an office supply and furniture store that, by 1925, had about fifty employees and was one of Atlanta’s best-known businesses. Allen, Sr. was also a founding member of the Atlanta Rotary Club, served as president of the new Atlanta Convention Bureau (1913-1917), president of the Atlanta Chamber of Commerce (1917), two years as Senator in the Georgia state legislature (1918-1919), and was the treasurer of the Georgia Democratic Party in 1936.

In an effort to attract northern capital to Atlanta, Allen, Sr. headed the Atlanta chamber’s "Forward Atlanta" booster campaign (1926-1929), a strategy that would lure almost 700 new businesses to Atlanta and serve to influence Ivan Allen, Jr.'s future as a businessman and civic leader. Founder of the office supply firm later known as the Ivan Allen Company. He was the only child of Susan and Earnest Allen. His name at birth was Isaac Anderson Allen, but his mother changed his name after his father, a confederate veteran, died when Ivan was a young boy.

He started out selling typewriters as a teenager, and eventually set up shop with a partner, James Fielder.

As his business grew, he also participated in many civic activities and charitable organizations such as Rotary, Boy Scouts, Elks, Mason, and his church. He donated the land that became Fort Mountain State Park. He also served one term in the Georgia senate, served on the board of the Georgia Democratic Party.

He married Irene Beaumont, who was just 17 at the time, in 1907. They had one son, Ivan Allen, Jr.

• Reference: Find A Grave Memorial - SmartCopy: Aug 2 2017, 20:47:49 UTC

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