The town was named for Calvin Allen, an area rancher who donated land for the St. Louis, Brownsville and Mexico Railway in exchange for the railroad putting a depot on his land. He divided his land near the depot to create the town. It's population fluctuated greatly between the opening of its post-office in 1908 (though it only was officially recognized as a town in 1910) and it's annexation by Corpus Christi in 1966; nearly becoming a ghost town in the 1920s before rising back up. As a suburb of Corpus Christi, Calallen was recognized by the state of Texas for its public high school, which ranked highly throughout the 21st century.