{"nrhp_refnum":"83000780","name":"Acton Centre Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Main St., Wood and Woodbur Lanes, Newton, Concord, and Nagog Hill Rds.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Acton","county":"Middlesex County","state":"MA","lat":42.486495500000075,"lon":-71.43311718411377,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1983-03-10","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Industry","Military","Politics/Government","Architecture","Religion","Agriculture"],"significance_levels":["local"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 19th century rural New England town center in Acton, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, with 36 major structures clustered around an oblong Common, plus a monument and three documented archaeological sites along Main Street (Route 27) and five side roads.","why_significant":"The district is a characteristic rural town center whose Federal and Greek Revival buildings reflect its major period of growth in the first half of the 19th century. Its commerce, professional services, workshops and farming grew up around the Common, and it includes the 1851 monument to Acton's Revolutionary soldiers. Local entrepreneurs such as Samuel Jones and Samuel Law shaped the village by laying out lots and building houses and commercial buildings.","narrative":"Acton Centre is the historic core of the town of Acton, Massachusetts, a rural New England village of 36 major structures arranged around a roughly six-acre Common. Main Street runs through it, and portions of five other roads meet it. Most buildings are clapboarded frame houses in the Federal and Greek Revival styles, with a few earlier and later designs. Landmarks include an 1851 granite monument to Captain Isaac Davis and two other Acton soldiers of the Revolution, an 1863 Italianate Town Hall, an 1889 Romanesque brick library by Hartwell and Richardson, and an 1829 Federal chapel. The village grew most in the early 19th century, when Samuel Jones, his brother and Samuel Law bought land, laid out house lots, and built houses and commercial buildings around the Common. The railroad of 1844 bypassed the village, so it stayed commercial, professional and agricultural rather than industrial. That history left a well-preserved town center.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Charles E. Parker (Revolutionary Monument); Hartwell and Richardson (Acton Memorial Library); Joseph Schiffer (1965 library addition); Samuel Jones and Samuel Law (builders of several houses)","architectural_style":"Federal and Greek Revival predominate, with Italianate, Romanesque, Queen Anne and later examples","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied; used for commercial, government, religious and private residential purposes. Three 20th century intrusions are noted.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:57.887523-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/18/7955/63795518/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/83000780.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000780/0330735e37-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/83000780/0330735e37-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":null,"credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ActonTownHall.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Unknown author</a>, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:ActonTownHall.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63795518","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acton_Centre_Historic_District","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q4677664"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/middlesex-county/acton-centre-historic-district-83000780/"}