Charles H. Allen

Charles H. Allen
Allen in 1902
Assistant Secretary of the Navy
In office
May 11, 1898 – April 21, 1900
Preceded byTheodore Roosevelt
Succeeded byFrank W. Hackett
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives
from Massachusetts's 8th district
In office
March 4, 1885 (1885-03-04) – March 3, 1889 (1889-03-03)
Preceded byWilliam A. Russell
Succeeded byFrederic T. Greenhalge
Governor of Puerto Rico
In office
May 1, 1900 (1900-05-01) – September 15, 1901 (1901-09-15)
Appointed byWilliam McKinley
Preceded byGeorge Whitefield Davis
Succeeded byWilliam Henry Hunt
Member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives
In office
1881–1882
Member of the Massachusetts Senate
In office
1883
Personal details
Born
Charles Herbert Allen

(1848-04-15)April 15, 1848
Lowell, Massachusetts, US
DiedApril 20, 1934(1934-04-20) (aged 86)
Lowell, Massachusetts, US
Political partyRepublican

Charles Herbert Allen (April 15, 1848 – April 20, 1934) was an American politician and businessman. After serving in state and federal elected positions, he was appointed as the first United States-appointed civilian governor of Puerto Rico when the U.S. acquired it after the Spanish–American War. He previously had served as Assistant Secretary of the Navy under President William McKinley.

After returning to the U.S. from Puerto Rico, Allen headed for Wall Street and became a vice president of Morton Trust Company and its successor, the Guaranty Trust Company of New York. He formed the American Sugar Refining Company—a sugar syndicate which, by 1907, was the largest in the world. It owned or controlled 98% of the sugar processing capacity in the U.S. and was known as the Sugar Trust.[1][2] Allen was treasurer of American Sugar Refining in 1910, its president in 1913, and in 1915 he joined its board of directors.[3] In the early 21st century, the company is known as Domino Sugar.

  1. ^ Cesar J. Ayala, American Sugar Kingdom; University of North Carolina Press, 1999; pp. 45–47.
  2. ^ "Sold Beet Sugar Stock: President Allen Says Sugar Trust Tried to Conform to the Law," New York Times; April 1, 1914.
  3. ^ "Charles H. Allen Resigns," New York Times, June 16, 1915.