Founder of the University in 1791 ( Legislative Charter) having pledged a considerable sum of his personal wealth in 1789 to insure that the University would be sited in Burlington, Allen served as the state's first treasurer and surveyor-general (1778-1787) and with his patriot-hero brother Ethan Allen played a major role in the Revolution and the eventual founding of the state of Vermont. Founder's Day --May 1-- was created in 1894 to resurrect Allen's memory. James B. Wilbur of Manchester, Vermont commissioned Fry to create the statue of Allen and underwrote the cost of the Ira Allen Chapel to honor the memory of the founding father.

See also the oil on canvas portrait by Thomas Waterman Wood, 1898 which is a copy of the Malbone miniature and is now in the Memorial Lounge, Waterman.