Glen Allen, Virginia 2025
Glen Allen is a town in Henrico County, Virginia, United States. The population was 14,774 as of the 2020 census, [3] off from 4,644 in 2000. Glen Allen is located at 37°40’19’N 77°28’17’W (37.671977, -77.471308).[3] According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 11.4 square miles (29.6 km2), of which 0.004 square miles (0.01 km2), or 0.26%, is water.[3]
Glen Allen is located just west of Richmond, Virginia’s capital city, at the northern edge of Goochland County, near Interstate 64 and U.S. Routes 60 and 33, and is where Interstate 295 is situated. Richmond International Raceway, which hosts NASCAR events, is located south of Glen Allen.
Henrico County Public Schools serves Glen Allen.
There are two public elementary schools: L. W. Monroe Elementary School and Nuckols Farm Elementary School.
Until 2016, there were schools for grades 6-8. These included:
Glen Allen Elementary School
F.W. Powhatan Middle School (formerly Glen Allen Intermediate School)
Glen Allen High School
Opened in fall 2016:
Glen Allen High School (VA) (formerly Glen Allen Senior High School)
Patrick Henry High School (Ashland, Virginia)
* Private schools
Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen
Glen Allen Kindergarten (Age 2-5)
Glen Allen Christian Academy
St. Mary Catholic School
[1] Although the 2010 census says Glen Allen had a population of 4,848, the 2008 American Community Survey, which sampled 2008 population estimates, estimated the population to be roughly 7,841 people.
Notable people
Jeff Burton, former NASCAR driver and current commentator for NBC Sports
Shelby Grubbs, voice actress for Cartoon Network and former voice of Hardee’s commercials
John Williams “Will” Moreau Jr., Retired US Air Force Brigadier General
Special events
Glen Allen has events for citizens to enjoy, including a summer concert series, weekly farmers’ markets, Halloween Festival, Holiday Festival, and Christmas Parade.
Local attractions
Deep Run Park, a Henrico County Park, located along the James River, has walking/mountain biking trails, horseshoe pits, a playground, picnic shelters, a community building, restrooms, and a canoe launch.
The Cultural Arts Center at Glen Allen is a renovated 1930’s historic school house that was transformed into an arts center in 2008. There are classes and studio spaces for artists, and six times a year, it puts on exhibits in its gallery.
The Henrico County government has helped with improvement of the Belmont commercials/restaurant corridor, located along U.S. Route 1.
Regular calendar events include a summer concert series at the Cultural Art Center, a fall Festival and a Christmas parade.
Food
Glen Allen has a variety of restaurants including:
Sampsons’ Restaurant and Grill, known for its food and NASCAR memorabilia
Shepherds’ Pub, a British-style pub known for its Cornish pasties and other English cuisine
Café R Italy, an Italian restaurant known for its pasta sauces and lasagna Leadbetter’s, local favorite known for its unique food, extensive wine list (30 wines by the glass) and scotch list (over 50 offerings)
Lemaire’s Food Bar, gourmet bar food and creative cocktails
People
The population is 4,644. Glen Allen’s population is 391 people per square mile.
1,194 people per square mile within a two-mile radius of Glen Allen’s Main Street.
There are 3,439 households in Glen Allen, containing 2,359 families.
The town’s population was evenly split between males (2,263) and females (2,261).
From 2016–2020, Glen Allen was part of America's 53rd congressional district, which had a Cook Partisan Voting Index of R+6.
On December 12, 2017, The Washington Post reported that the high school’s football team, the Raiders. had adopted a policy of kneeling during the Anthem, joining the NFL players who knelt to protest police brutality. Henrico County Public Schools Superintendent Patricia S. Hurd issued a statement via email urging students to stand.
Some on social media are using the hashtags #stand4kneeldown and #stand4kneeling, which is an adaptation of the hashtag #TakeAKnee that was popularized by former NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick.
On January 11, 2018, the high school’s football team, the Raiders, wore #IMwithKAP shirts during warm-ups, a hashtag that has been circulating on social media in support of Kaepernick, who started the wave of kneeling in 2016.
History
In 1838, a group of investors built a railroad from Richmond west to a new town at the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains, which they named “Glen Allen.” (The town was incorporated in 1840.) For 15 years, during construction of the railroad from Richmond to the west and the Civil War that followed, Glen Allen grew quickly—but unevenly, because it had two centers: the Original Town of Glen Allen, near the railroad; and the Old Town, southeast of the Original Town. For decades there was animosity between the two. Eventually, businessmen in Original Town decided they saw enough economic potential in the rails to build a streetcar line, power plant, bank, stores, and a hotel (built in 1888). The town became a significant strawberry shipping point.
In 1900, the Virginia General Assembly incorporated a town at its current site and named it Glen Allen. The two businessmen who developed it, J. D. Eggleston and Charles S. Dabney, hoped to return economic greatness to the area after the railroad had largely bypassed Original Town. After the civil war, the area did not prosper as well as before the war. By 1900, Glen Allen was a small, close-knit community with Henrico County’s only bank, a Baptist church, a drugstore, general store, post office, and a wagon yard. There was a grammar school in place from 1874 to 1913, then Glen Allen graded school from 1914 until 1922. Development continued at a slow pace until suburban development spurred by post–World War II caused a boom in residential growth.
Glen Allen is served by its Police Department. Law enforcement services are provided by the Henrico County Police Department. The department is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies (CALEA).
Glen Allen has a Police Department, but law enforcement services are provided by the Henrico County Police Department since the town’s incorporation in 1979. The department has its own police cars and has been CALEA accredited since 1995, but law enforcement services are provided by Henrico County. The Police Department is staffed by four full-time sworn police officers. Glen Allen contracts with Henrico County for law enforcement services. This was part of a 1978 annexation/service agreement with Henrico County to provide city services. In addition to law enforcement services, the agreement provides for the maintenance of streets by Henrico County.
The town has grown slowly, resulting in a modest population of 4,644 according to the town website.