Allen C. Mason |
Allen C. Mason 1884
Courtesy of the Tacoma Museum, Tacoma, WA
Allen C. Mason, the builder of the Mason Block was born in Rhode Island
in 1834
and was named after Captain Allen Chase of the Atlantic Trade- a friend of the
family.
Captain Chase had spent his life at sea and had no progeny to carry on his good
name
so he made an offer to deposit an account of $1,000 on his 18th birthday
if the
Mason’s named their son after him.
Over the years, Allen C. Mason worked hard and became very successful.
Upon receiving $1,000 on his 18th birthday, Allen was able to complete his
education
and invested the remainder in real estate, becoming one of the founders of Polo,
Illinois,
a town whose main street still bears his name.
Allen attended Wesleyan University and graduated at the age of twenty.
Soon after, he became a teacher and eventually served as principal of different high
schools in Illinois.
Furthermore, during this time he wrote two books, Mason’s
Problems in Arithmetic, and another
that focused on his teaching profession. Aside
from teaching and writing, Allen studied law and
was even admitted to the bar.
Allen moved West in May 1883 with his family and rented a modest
cottage in Tacoma.
Shortly after their move, Allen found a job with a real estate firm and
nearly doubled the family wealth,
becoming a multi-millionaire by 1890 and owning
enterprises such as Olympia’s gas plant and electrical powerhouse, Tacoma’s
Shore Line Railroad, the Tacoma Daily News and, with Nelson Bennett,
the Tacoma streetcar
system.
Not only did he build the Mason Block in Fairhaven, he built one in
Tacoma and owned the
Mason Opera House in Yakima, where he also provided the funds to
irrigate 6,000 acres of orchard land.
Allen was a major stockholder in the Tacoma Theater
Building and Tacoma Smelter and
sat on the board of directors of Bellingham Bay National
Bank, the Tacoma National Bank
and the First National Bank of North Yakima.
Extremely successful and hard working, it is not surprising he built
something as incredible
as the Mason Block, now known as the Sycamore Square building.
"…nothing astonishes me on Puget Sound. If such a thing were possible, I would be surprised at the wonderful growth and improvement of this place. The more I see of it, the better I am pleased and I find much satisfaction in my interests here…Fairhaven is now assured a big success on Puget Sound…"
-Allen C. Mason, 1890
