Samuel Waters Allerton (1828-1914) was a businessman who amassed a substantial fortune, primarily through ventures in stockyards and livestock.

In the Chicago mayoral election of 1893, Democrat Carter Harrison Sr. won election, returning him the mayor's office for a (then-record) fifth non-consecutive term as mayor of Chicago. Harrison won a majority of the vote, defeating the Republican nominee, businessman Samuel W. Allerton, by a ten point margin. He also defeated two third-party candidates: United Citizens nominee DeWitt Clinton Cregier and Socialist Labor Party nominee Henry Ehrenpreis, neither of whom received strong support.