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History · Acton Township

Acton Township’s post office opened in 1857, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Below: 2 old photos and papers and maps from 1967 on.

1857first post office
0on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Acton Township began

When was Acton Township founded?

1857

The Acton Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Acton (1857), opened inside today’s town and later closed.

2020 census: 386169 years
Founding year: the first Acton Township post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Acton Township’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Acton Township’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Acton Township’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewState monument at Acton, Meeker County,…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Acton Township came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Acton Township.

Read it all →

A post office called Acton was established in 1857, and remained in operation until 1904. The community was named after Acton, Ontario.

The incident that sparked the Dakota War of 1862 took place near Acton on August 17, 1862. Four Mdewakantons, Sungigidan (“Brown Wing”), Kaomdeiyeyedan (“Breaking Up”), Nagiwicakte (“Killing Ghost”), and Pazoiyopa (“Runs Against Something When Crawling”) from Rice Creek Village in the Lower Sioux Agency, returning home from an unsuccessful hunt, had a confrontation with Robinson Jones, a settler, which resulted in the Mdewakantons killing five settlers, including Jones.

ChaptersDakota War of 1862

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Acton Township, 1857 to 1967

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1857Post officeThe Acton post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1904Post officeThe Acton post office closes
  5. 1909In the archiveState monument at Acton, Meeker County, Minnesota, the Historic Tree in the distance
  6. 1967On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Acton Township, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1900s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1900s2 items
State monument at Acton, Meeker County, Minnesota, the Historic Tree in the distance1909State monument at Acton, Meeker County, Minnesota, th…The historic tree1909The historic tree
1910s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
On the map

Acton Township on the map, 1967 to 1986

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Acton Township. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Acton Township on the 1967 USGS mapActon Township on the 1986 USGS map1967Rosendale sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Acton Township.

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

State monument at Acton, Meeker County, Minnesota, the Historic Tree in the distance
Retake this viewState monument at Acton, Meeker County, Minnesota, the Historic Tree in the distance, 1909

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Acton Township’s page.

Retake this view · +15
Places that used to be

Lost post offices, old corners, places now gone and burying grounds

Another post office, Acton, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Hamlets and corners on the map
Acton
Gone or out of use
Acton Post Officepost office
2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Acton Township
Arndahl LutheranBethlehem Lutheran

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Grove CityIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townDanielson TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townLitchfield Township1 historic placenot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townGennessee TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townSwede Grove TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Acton Township’s history

What year was Acton Township founded?

The Acton Township post office opened in 1857, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From the Library of Congress (2), Wikipedia, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.