an early and important east-west road
between the coastline and western Rhode Island,
and were purchased from Thomas Joslin in 1787.
The land originally included a forty-acre parcel
to the Greene family's homesite.
Allen later added an additional eighty acres of land to his farm.
When Allen, a physician from East Greenwich,
located his family in West Greenwich,
the inland town itself was only forty-five years old;
it was set off in 1741 from
its more prosperous coastal neighbor, East Greenwich.
West Greenwich was primarily an agricultural town.
Its population, always small, was thinly scattered over its 35,000 acres.
In 1755 the population was only 1246;
by 1800, the town had grown but slightly to 1757.
The population decreased during the second half of the 19th century.
The population was listed as slightly over 4000 in 1990 and over 5000 in 2000.
The nearest village to Stephen Allen's house was
West Greenwich Center, to the west, on Plain Meeting House Road;
but even this tiny village had no church until 1825;
only in the 1840's was a post office established here.
The Nooseneck section of West Greenwich had a fairly large population.
Several mills were built there in the early 1800's.
Most of the people went to the Mapleroot Root Church.
However, in May 1809, a group of people petitioned
the General Assembly to incorporate as the
"West Greenwich and Exeter Union Society".
The leaders of this group were
Stephen Allen, Beriah Hopkins and Peleg Arnold.
Dr. Allen spearheaded the idea of building a meeting house,
which was built on land donated by Jonathan Weaver on Noose Neck Hill.
He served as a regular preacher there for nearly forty years.
The church burned down in the late 1800's
to be replaced by the white clapboarded Baptist Church
which was moved from Noose Neck Hill in 1979
to its present location on Victory Highway,
ironically, some 1000 feet from Dr. Allen's home on Sharpstreet.
The Census of 1790 lists 2 males 16 years and older, 1 male under 16 and 3 females. John Greene, listed in this census, was Stephen Allen's neighbor facing directly across the street. The James Weaver listed was the father of George Weaver who would marry Stephen Allen's daughter. On December 19, 1811, Dr. Allen and his wife gave to George and Sally Weaver "with love and affection" 60 acres and the farmhouse stituated on Sharpstreet. George and Sally would live in this home until 1828.
It seems likely that Stephen Allen
was the only doctor in this community
and was probably more affluent than his neighbors,
for the Census of 1800 lists not only his family of four,
but also three "free persons" who were probably black servants or Native Americans.
On August 11, 1787,
Dr. Stephen Allen and his wife Sarah Rhodes
purchased 40 acres of land, situated on Sharpstreet,
from Thomas Joslin for 90 pounds of silver.
A farmhouse with a central chimney,
typical of the era, was built in that year.
The Allens had their "free persons" working the farm.