Founded in 1908 by Colonel Allen Allensworth — the highest-ranking Black officer in the U.S. Army at the time — Allensworth is the only California town founded, financed, and governed entirely by African Americans. The community built its own school, library, church, and businesses before state water diversion destroyed the town's agricultural viability in the 1920s. The park is a California State Historic Park preserving the original townsite.