Time travel back to 1970 and you may hardly recognize Allen as you drive north on Central Expressway. Still, just east of the highway on Main Street, downtown Allen still resembles the downtown folks remember from 41 years ago.
Sure the storefront names have changed but if downtown were a movie set, it would not take long to convert it back to a place where people bought groceries, ate lunch and talked about the weather.
Thanks to a local businessman and an 8mm camera, Allen residents can now see for themselves what downtown looked like in 1970. (see links below)
That businessman was Don Rodenbaugh, owner of a downtown appliance store and president of the Allen Merchants Association. The association created the Allen Christmas Parade as a promotion in 1970 and Rodenbaugh filmed the entire parade as it rolled and marched by his store.
Watching the film today provides an insight into a community that was no longer rural but hadn’t experienced the growth that towns like Richardson and later Plano did.
Allen’s first parade in 1970 featured 52 entries and 125 horses. This year’s parade will likely include over 100 entries and close to 1000 people. In fact, the 1970 parade was so small in that participants circled around at the top of Main Street and then marched down the street again back to their cars.
Again, the businesses may have changed through the years but the parade includes many of the same entries. Scouts roll by in pickup truck beds, local churches bolt nativity scenes to flatbeds and police car sirens probably wail (it’s a silent film). Compare your digital video to the old home movies and you’ll see Main Street lined with proud parents and excited children in both of them. The Allen High School Escadrille leads the parade and still represents the town’s only high school with pride.
The parade has always rolled up Main Street but the starting point has changed through the years. The parade first assembled behind the old WalMart (later Brookshire’s) shopping center. As the number of entries grew, the lineup extended further away until it reached behind the Hallmark store (now Jalapenos) at the opposite end of the shopping center. The parade now lines up through Allen Station Park all the way back to Allen High School.
Watching home movies of Allen’s first parade is interesting to some but emotional to others who are able to see themselves and others in a sort of time machine. The film is especially poignant when you consider that many of the parents lining the streets are now gone and their kids or grandkids now line the same parade route.
The Allen Christmas Parade, which is now sponsored by the two Allen Rotary Clubs, was created to highlight the downtown businesses. Over the years it has become much more and kids of all ages anticipate it each year.
This year’s parade will be held on Sunday December 4 starting at 2 p.m. Parade entries can be found at www.allenrotary.org or www.asrotary.org.
Clips from Don Rodenbaugh’s 1970-1972 parade home movies can be found on YouTube by searching Allen Christmas Parade. Links to the parade clips can also be found below:
