Who Was Elijah Amasa Allen?

1818-1888

Elijah Amasa Allen was a settler from Vermont who traveled to the area in 1847. He lived on a farm southwest of Dunton (Arlington Heights) for 12 years before he bought three acres of land running north from Euclid Avenue to what is now Hawthorne Street.

In 1859, he built a farmhouse on what is now 116 West Euclid Avenue, on the corner of Highland and Euclid Avenues. It is one of the oldest houses in town.

He raised vegetables and fruit trees and other farm crops. A friend of Elijah Allen, Julius Berbecker originally from New Orleans, came to Chicago to open a sales office for imported surgical instruments with a branch office in Arlington Heights. When Berbecker's wife died in 1864 leaving him with 3 small children, he brought them to live with Elijah's family. Son Eugene was about 18 months old at the time. The two older children left after a few years, but Eugene spent his life growing up in the Allen Home.

After Elijah's death, Eugene N. Berbecker inherited the house. Eugene constructed a full second story over the house and a front porch was made to cover the entire Euclid Avenue side of the house.

The Allen family passed the home through generations of the family until 1992.