Allen & Reed Records

Industrial heating and plumbing supplies, Providence, R.I.

Records, 1902-1978

Size: 4.75 linear feet

Catalog number: MSS 95

Processed by: Cindy Bendroth, August 1989

Slightly revised by Rick Stattler, October 1998

©Rhode Island Historical Society

Manuscripts Division

Allen and Reed, Inc. began in 1902 as a wholesale corporation of industrial supplies, especially pipe, valves, fittings, heating equipment, and pumps. Under the management of Philip Allen (1869-1951) and W. Gordon Reed, the corporation installed sprinkler systems, heating systems, process piping systems and oil lines throughout Rhode Island, southeastern Massachusetts and Connecticut. The company was first located at 125 Eddy St. in Providence, then moved to 178 Dorrance Street and later at 124 Narragansett Ave.

In 1947 W. Gordon Reed died and Philip Allen, treasurer of the company, was near retirement. The company had little inventory and was faltering, therefore it was reorganized as A, Inc., a company that was started to provide Philip Allen with income and employment. The property and inventory would be purchased by a new company, Allen and Reed Company with Philip Allen's son, William Slater Allen (1904-1991) as president.

The Company flourished after World War II and enjoyed the prosperity of the 1950s and 1960s. The company expanded to Manchester, Connecticut and formed Allen and Reed, Inc. of Connecticut. By the 1970s, inflation and recession hurt the business and Mr. Allen was near retirement. In 1978, Robert J. Sirhal bought the inventory of the company and leased the land owned by the Allen and Reed Company. Mr. Allen formed Corliss Enterprises to take care of the leasing and selling of the Company's property. According to the 1980 city directory, Allen and Reed was bought by Reardon and Lynch, a plumbing and heating company located in Attleboro. Allen and Reed is still at 124 Narragansett as of August 1989.

The papers are divided into two sections: those dealing with the Allen and Reed business and the personal papers of William Slater Allen and his father Philip Allen. The business papers are primarily correspondence with clients, tax information, directors' meetings minutes and annual meetings. Personal papers include insurance information, correspondence between friends and Philip Allen and his grandchildren, notes on family antiques and history, a personal journal, correspondence from William Slater Allen's personal business ventures such as Tropical Tool Company (1947) and Franklin Machine and Foundry Company (1941). Some Allen and Reed material might be mixed with the personal since Mr. Allen often used his secretary for personal matters. The whole collection dates from 1869 to 1979, the bulk of the material dates from 1948 to 1969. Important names are: William Slater Allen, Philip Allen, Elizabeth G. Allen, William Slater Allen, Jr. and Zachariah Allen. Important subjects are: I-95 construction, Tropical Tool Company, Providence taxes, preservation of Benevolent Street and a Cumberland land dispute. Of particular interest is a diary dated 1920 which was apparently written as evidence in a divorce trial. The author is concerned exclusively with his wife's cruel behavior and morphine abuse. The volume bears no signature or location, but judging by the frequent visits to Pawtucket and Woonsocket, it seems to have been written in northern Rhode Island. Only one entry provides a truly useful clue, a description of a major fire at the author's house on the morning of November 10, 1920. The newspapers from Providence, Pawtucket and Woonsocket report only one such fire, at the home of James McLaughlin of Cumberland Hill. Going back to the Allen & Reed Papers, we find extensive documentation of a "Cumberland dispute" in which Philip Allen acquired property from James McLaughlin. As there is nothing in the diary to disprove the connection, we can only assume that Allen acquired the diary along with the property, or perhaps through some other personal connection. According to McLaughlin's obituary in the Pawtucket Times, 7/23/1930, he was born to a poor Woonsocket family, became a millionaire as a lumber dealer, but died with an estate of only $75,000. The obituary lists his nieces, but conspicuously avoids the topic of his marital status. All of this is consistent with the content of the diary. McLaughlin apparently married late in life, divorced, and lost a large portion of his savings.

This series contains minutes to director's meetings, and correspondence to and from clients, tax information and financial records. Arranged alphabetically with oversize material in Box 4.

Includes correspondence between friends and family, insurance and tax information, Correspondence dealing with the renovation of 12 Benevolent Street. Arranged alphabetically with oversize material in Box 4.

The Allen & Reed Records were given by Mr. William Slater Allen in 1973, 1981, 1982 and 1987.

The Allen papers were put in acid-free folders and boxes and paper clips, staples and pins were taken out if they were rusting or damaging the papers. The papers were divided between personal and business. A finding aid was written.