Reverend Allen Richards came to the New Mexico Territory in 1910 from Junction City, Arkansas. Reverend J.B. Bell persuaded Rev. Richards to come to New Mexico because young ministers were needed to work this vast territory. In Arkansas, he taught school and after coming to New Mexico, he worked for the Santa Fe Railroad as a porter. Reverend Richards was the fifth minister to pastor Mount Olive Baptist Church. Under his administration the mortgage for the church was paid in full and burned. He and his wife owned and operated a grocery store with their eight children in the 1300 block of North First Street. He also built the Richards Building at 227 Marquette Northeast. This building was erected as a meeting place for Blacks in Albuquerque. The upstairs was used for meetings and the first floor housed a restaurant, the LeGrone Funeral Parlor, and a nightclub. Reverend Richards also purchased the property at 312 north Marquette and opened the Ideal Hotel. Reverend Richards homesteaded on east Central and in 1924 became a partner in the Booker T, Washington Sanitarium with Dr. James Lewis and Henry Outley. If that was not enough, Reverend Richards also was the editor of a newspaper, "The Southwest Plain Dealer." | 
