The history of Acton, long before it bore its present name, is inseparably connected with the early settlement and expansion of Concord, one of the earliest inland plantations of Massachusetts Bay. From the first years of English occupation, the lands that would become Acton lay within the orbit of Concord’s economic needs, territorial ambitions, and negotiations with the Native peoples whose presence had shaped the region for generations.
When Concord was incorporated in 1635, its bounds did not formally include the territory later set off as Acton; yet from the outset, that upland and meadow country to the northwest formed part of Concord’s hinterland. In 1636, Squaw Sachem and other Native leaders executed a treaty conveying to the English the so-called six-mile square, a transaction that laid the legal foundation for subsequent settlement, though Native occupation and use of the land continued for decades. As Concord’s population grew, the scarcity of arable and pasture land soon became evident. By 1642, men such as Thomas Wheeler petitioned the General Court for additional acreage, citing the necessity of supporting livestock and future generations.
The response came gradually. In 1655, Concord received a grant of five thousand acres “for feeding,” expressly limited so as not to infringe upon earlier allotments. Settlement followed shortly thereafter. By 1656, families including the Shepherds and Laws had established themselves on these outer lands, marking the beginning of permanent English residence in what would later be Acton. The legal title to the land was reinforced in 1660, when Concord entered into an agreement with the “Ingenes of Mashoba,” paying fifteen pounds for the grant; this agreement was later formalized by deed in 1684. A second five-thousand-acre grant in 1665 further expanded Concord’s control, ensuring that the New Grant would become a lasting part of its territorial domain.
In 1666, pursuant to court order, Richard Beers and Thomas Noyes surveyed and laid out the New Grant, also known as Concord Village, encompassing present-day Acton and portions of Carlisle and Littleton. Two years later, Concord voted to reserve this tract as a free common for its householders, a decision reflecting both communal ideals and practical necessity. A significant step toward organized development occurred in 1669, when Concord leased two hundred acres of upland and sixty acres of meadow west of Nashoba Brook to Captain Thomas Wheeler. Under the terms of this agreement, Wheeler undertook to pasture the town’s dry cattle and to erect a dwelling house and barn of specified dimensions.
About this time, Wheeler constructed what tradition has long regarded as the first substantial dwelling in Acton, together with the first grist-mill, an institution essential to frontier life. The Brabrook brothers arrived soon thereafter, and by about 1670 the Faulkner House in South Acton had been erected, portions of it designed as a blockhouse or garrison, a reminder that settlement proceeded under constant apprehension of conflict. Adjustments to Wheeler’s cattle contract in 1673, prompted by a decline in stock numbers, illustrate the tentative and experimental nature of early land use.
The fragile peace of the frontier was shattered by King Philip’s War. In 1675, Captain Wheeler and men from the Concord and Acton settlements joined the ill-fated expedition into the Nipmuck country near Brookfield. Wheeler was grievously wounded and, according to tradition, saved from death by the devotion of his son; the survivors endured a prolonged siege until relieved by Major Willard. Wheeler never fully recovered and died in 1676, becoming both Acton’s first settler and its first casualty of war. The conflict delayed settlement and reinforced the importance of garrison houses and communal defense, yet it did not permanently arrest development.
The closing years of the seventeenth century brought both legal uncertainty and political awakening. Under the administration of Sir Edmund Andros, town meetings were suppressed and land titles declared void, provoking deep resentment. In April 1689, a Concord company that included men from the Acton territory marched to Boston under Lieutenant John Heald to support the overthrow of the Andros regime, an early assertion of local autonomy. By the 1690s, lists of freeholders and proprietors reveal the emergence of families who would dominate Acton’s civic life for generations, including the Shepherds, Laws, Wheelers, and Hosmers.
At the turn of the century, the New Grant was commonly called Concord Village. Though still governed from Concord, it increasingly managed its own affairs. Boundaries were renewed, ironworks petitioned for timber rights, and by 1710 the Village elected its own clerk. Surveys undertaken in 1730 established its area at nearly thirteen thousand acres. Meanwhile, the gradual transfer of Nashoba Plantation lands into English ownership marked the final displacement of Native control, with Sarah Dublet remembered as the last survivor holding title near the village.
The long movement toward independence culminated in 1735. On March 4, Concord voted to set off Concord Village and the Willard Farms as a separate town, and the General Court approved the act of incorporation on July 1, signed by Governor Jonathan Belcher on July 3. The first town meeting, held on July 21, chose John Heald as moderator and Thomas Wheeler as town clerk, thereby inaugurating Acton’s independent civic existence. Disputes over the location of the meeting house, ultimately resolved by selecting a knoll on Dr. Cuming’s land, reveal both the geography of settlement and the intensity of local feeling. By 1738, public worship had begun in the unfinished structure, and the ordination of the Reverend John Swift established a settled ministry that would guide the town through its formative years.
During the mid-eighteenth century, Acton matured as a New England town, supporting schools, maintaining roads, and participating in imperial wars. Its men served with distinction in the French and Indian War, and several, including members of the Brabrook family, never returned. Population growth and political awareness prepared the way for revolutionary action. By the early 1770s, Acton had adopted non-importation agreements, formed a committee of correspondence, and instructed its representatives to defend charter rights.
On April 19, 1775, Acton’s place in national history was sealed. Under the command of Isaac Davis, the Acton company marched to Concord’s North Bridge. When ordered to advance, Davis famously declared that he had not a man afraid to go. He and Abner Hosmer fell in the opening volley, the first fatalities in the organized resistance to British troops. The sacrifice of Davis, Hosmer, and James Hayward became central to Acton’s identity, commemorated in monument and memory. Throughout the Revolutionary War, the town supported independence with men, money, and supplies, and in 1776 formally instructed its representative to support a declaration of independence, pledging lives and fortunes to the cause.
From the close of the Revolutionary War through the middle of the twentieth century, Acton passed through a long and often demanding period of adjustment, growth, and reinvention, during which the habits of an eighteenth-century agricultural community were gradually reshaped by industry, transportation, education, and the pressures of national conflict. The years after 1783 were not marked by dramatic expansion so much as by steady consolidation, as the town sought to stabilize its institutions and provide for the ordinary needs of its people in a new republic
In the immediate postwar years, Acton turned its attention to internal improvement and social order. The meeting house, which had served as both a religious and civic center, was altered in 1784 to accommodate a choir, reflecting changing worship practices and a growing emphasis on organized music. Economic uncertainty lingered, and during the disturbances associated with Shays’ Rebellion in 1786, the town expressed sympathy with certain grievances while firmly declining participation in open resistance, revealing a preference for stability and lawful redress. By the first federal census of 1790, which included the Carlisle district then still associated with Acton, the population stood at 853, indicating modest but sustained growth.
The closing years of the eighteenth century saw further institutional development. A workhouse was authorized in 1791 for the support of the poor, and changes in church practice followed, including the abandonment of “lining out” hymns and the cautious introduction of instrumental music. The Harvard College Lottery of 1794 left a visible architectural legacy in several houses built with prize money, while the division of the town into school districts in 1796 reflected both population dispersion and a growing concern for education. By the time Francis Faulkner, long a dominant figure in town administration, concluded his decades of service as town clerk, Acton possessed a stable civic framework capable of meeting the demands of the new century.
The opening years of the nineteenth century confirmed Acton’s political leanings and community character. In the election of 1800, the town overwhelmingly supported Thomas Jefferson’s Republican allies, a preference echoed in subsequent state and national contests. A social library established in 1801 signaled a commitment to self-improvement and literacy, while the sale of municipal offices such as constable and tax collector illustrated older practices that would gradually disappear. Military organization continued in peacetime with the formation of the Acton Light Infantry in 1805, maintaining traditions of local defense and public ceremony.
Physical improvements followed. Roads were laid out through the Centre, land was secured for a Town Common, and in 1807 a second meeting house was erected at considerable expense, accompanied by the construction of a tavern that became a focal point of public life. The War of 1812 again called Acton men into service, notably the Davis Blues, while local professionals such as Dr. Peter Goodnow established practices that would serve the town for decades. Economic hardship marked the postwar period, culminating in the disastrous weather of 1816, remembered as the year without a summer, when crop failures and inflated prices tested the endurance of farming families. The death of the Reverend Moses Adams in 1819 closed a long ministerial era and symbolized the passing of an older generation.
After 1820, Acton entered a period of more visible transformation. New religious societies were formed, additional meeting houses built, and innovations such as stoves in church buildings altered daily experience. Medical practitioners, school committees, and post offices multiplied, reflecting both population growth and administrative complexity. By the 1830s, industrial activity along the Assabet River, including powder mills and other manufactories, introduced wage labor alongside traditional agriculture.
The completion of the Fitchburg Railroad to West Acton in 1844 marked a decisive turning point. With the arrival of regular passenger and freight service, West Acton emerged as a commercial village, its stores, mills, and depots linking the town more closely to regional markets. Manufacturing ventures, from flour mills to pencil factories, followed the rails, while new churches and schools testified to the social consequences of economic change. At the same time, the town continued to honor its Revolutionary heritage; the memory of Isaac Davis remained a defining element of local identity.
The mid-nineteenth century brought renewed national crisis. Acton participated prominently in the commemorations of 1775, culminating in the erection and dedication of the Davis Monument in 1851, an act that linked local sacrifice to national memory. That same year, the town took a firm moral stance against the Fugitive Slave Law, aligning itself with antislavery sentiment. When the Civil War began, Acton responded promptly; the Davis Guards were among the first companies to report for duty, and the town supported its soldiers through bounties, supplies, and public recognition.
The war years were also marked by tragedy at home. In 1862, a devastating fire destroyed major buildings in the Centre, including the hotel, shoe manufactory, and the old meeting house, forcing costly rebuilding and reshaping the civic landscape. Yet even amid war and loss, the town laid plans for renewal, authorizing new public buildings and accommodating the social changes brought by returning veterans.
In the decades after the Civil War, Acton matured into a town of distinct villages, each with its own institutions. New churches, libraries, fraternal organizations, and schools were established, and the founding of a local newspaper fostered a shared civic consciousness. The establishment of a high school in 1884 signaled a commitment to advanced education, while the gift of a Memorial Library by William A. Wilde in 1890 provided both a cultural center and a monument to public generosity.
The twentieth century brought rapid technological and social change. Electric street lighting replaced kerosene lamps, street railways connected Acton to neighboring towns, and improved roads transformed travel and commerce. Fire protection was modernized, schools expanded, and civic procedures were updated to meet the needs of a growing commuter population. Fires, epidemics, and the decline of certain industries tested local resources, yet each challenge prompted further organization and reform.
World War I and World War II again mobilized Acton’s citizens, leading to committees of public safety, rationing boards, and systematic efforts to preserve war records. Between the wars, hurricanes, economic depression, and industrial shifts altered daily life, while new companies and housing developments signaled long-term change. By 1950, with a population of 3,510, Acton had become a town very different from the farming village of 1783, yet still deeply conscious of its origins, its sacrifices, and the steady civic effort through which each generation had shaped the community it inherited and passed on.
