{"nrhp_refnum":"11000854","name":"Acton High School","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"3 Charter Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Acton","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.47724679600003,"lon":-71.45512249099994,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2011-11-22","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture","Community Planning and Development","Education"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story red-brick former high school at 3 Charter Road in Acton, Massachusetts, built in 1925 to designs by John H. Bickford and constructed by Duncan Construction Company and John F. Cabeen. It has two small rear additions from about 1950.","why_significant":"The school is tied to the history of public education in Acton, as the town's first building constructed specifically as a high school. It is also a well-preserved example of an early 20th-century revival-style brick schoolhouse, the only one of its type in the town. It occupies a prominent central location and serves as an architectural landmark.","narrative":"Built in 1925 at the corner of Charter Road and Massachusetts Avenue, near the geographic center of Acton, this two-story red-brick building was the town's first constructed specifically as a high school. Boston architect John H. Bickford designed it in the Renaissance Revival style, most visible in the tall arched second-floor windows, with limestone and cast-stone trim. Two small rear additions were added around 1950. Before it opened, Acton high school classes had been held in village schoolhouses and, later, students were sent to Concord. Voters finally approved a building in 1925, and it began admitting students from Boxborough in 1927. It served as the high school until a regional high school opened in 1954, then became an elementary school for about 45 years. Now vacant, it is considered locally significant for its role in Acton's education history and as the town's best-preserved early 20th-century school building, retaining parts of its historic interior, including the former auditorium's coffered ceiling and proscenium arch.","period_of_significance":"1925-1961","architect_builder":"Bickford, John H./ Duncan Construction Company and John F. Cabeen","architectural_style":"Late 19th & 20th Century Revivals/Renaissance Revival","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Current function is listed as vacant/not in use. It served as a high school until the mid-1950s, then as an elementary school (McCarthy-Towne School) until about 2001.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:10:51.568504-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/26/7961/63796126/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/11000854.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000854/15c3e4075a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/11000854/15c3e4075a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Wc620","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Former_Acton_High_School,_Acton,_MA.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Wc620</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Former_Acton_High_School,_Acton,_MA.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63796126","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acton_High_School_(Massachusetts)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4677675"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/acton-high-school-11000854/"}