For almost 150 years this place has been called Acton. It was 1844 when Robert Swan, our first postmaster, suggested this name to replace “Adamsville” (chosen in honour of the founders) and the original name, “Dansville”.
Main street was Acton’s principal thoroughfare in the early days. The Adams family laid out the streets in a grid pattern, naming them after family members. Then the boom began with the coming of the railroad. The first Grand Trunk train steamed through town in 1856.
Pausing to read the historical marker at this site, it is worth noting that the small stream under the bridge was once responsible for supplying power to the mills of Acton, the very source of power that drew the Adams family to the site in the 1820s.
