Ira M. Allen School was named for an educator prominent in Eastern Ohio. Mr. Allen was a teacher in Massillon and Canton in the 1860s, Stark County treasurer for four years, and a member of the county board of school examiners for more than 30 years.

Allen School was built in 1915 at a cost of $97,209. Four decades later, in 1959, eight classroom, a new gymnasium and other remodeling were added at a cost more than six times the original cost of the building.

One of Allen's most prominent alumni is the late Marion Motley, who went on to star for the McKinley Bulldogs and Cleveland Browns and is regarded as one of the greatest running backs in pro football history. Jack "Babe" Stearn, for whom Canton's Southwest Community Center is named, also attended Allen.

Groundbreaking for a new Allen School, which took place on Dec. 13, 2001, next to the Coleman Community Center in southeast Canton, ushered in the construction phase of our eagerly anticipated new building. The new school opened in 2003.