Historical Marker

Helene Haack Allen (1891–1978)

Historical marker location:

NM Highway 272, Fort Sumner, New Mexico

( at Bosque Redondo Memorial Museum)

Helene was a pioneer businesswoman, moving to Fort Sumner at 21. She married a homesteader and they ran diverse businesses, including theaters and a mortuary. She established the first Billy the Kid museum on the site of the Old Fort and won legal battles to keep him interred there. Late in life, she donated land, which became Fort Sumner State Monument and Bosque Redondo Memorial Museum.