West Newton English and Classical School

[1] Allen was an advocate of women's suffrage, temperance, and the abolition of slavery, and his school, unusual at the time, had a racially integrated, co-educational student body.

[1] The school's coursework included reading, spelling, arithmetic, geography, geology, and bookkeeping.

Students attended lectures by guest speakers such as Theodore Parker, William Lloyd Garrison, and Ralph Waldo Emerson.

[2] Many of Allen's relatives, including his uncles, brothers, cousins, nieces, and three daughters, lived and taught at the school, and provided lodging in their homes for students.

[2] Students came from all over the world, and many graduates, both men and women, went on to have careers in medicine, law, government, and education.