Photographs from the nomination case file, National Park Service records.
Acton High School
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
2011. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“(Provide at least one paragraph for each area of significance.) Land that makes up Acton was part of the town of Concord until 1735, when it was set off as an independent municipality. Although primarily an agricultural community throughout most of its history, Acton also became an important manufacturing center for the production of wooden barrels in the century.”
Narrative Statement of Significance, National Register nomination for Acton High School. Machine-read text.
one of 1100 National Register listings in Middlesex County · listed in 2011 · category: Building · one of 3 National Historic Landmarks in Middlesex County.
National Register reference number.11000854- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
The ground it stands on
34,282 words
The chapter on Acton Town in Acton in History, published 1890 names Acton. This is what it says, exactly as the scans read.
The Faulkner House (South Acton). - This is the oldest house now standing in Acton. You go from the railroad station south across the bridge and ascend the steep hill, and you at once approach the ancient structure. It has on its face and surroundings an impress of age, which strikes the eye at first glance, and the impress deepens as the eye tarries for a second look.
I asked Uncle Francis why in the world they did not take a wagon, and one horse wonld be enough for the whole. Didn't they know enough to do that? "Oh, yes - they knew too much to do that," he said. The British soldiers might have the road. If we saw a red-coat we were told to give him a wide birth, or he might get us and our dinner. We could quietly topple over a stone wall or take out a few rails and escape through the fields and find our men wherever they might be. To the great surprise of the boy he found the Acton men iu the highest spirits. They had made the re<l-coats run for their lives.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 35 fires within 5 miles of Acton High School between
2004 and 2020, burning about 21 acres in total. None started naturally. 2 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Debris and open burning
23
Missing data/not specified/undetermined
4
Railroad operations and maintenance
3
Arson/incendiarism
2
Equipment and vehicle use
2
Recreation and ceremony
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 650 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Acton High School between 1898 and
1975: 389 Animalia, 180 Plantae, 74 Fungi, 4 Protozoa, 2 Chromista, 1 Unrecorded. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A. B. Seymour, A. B. Seymour & M. D. Feigley, A. C. Gibson and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
17 workings within 5 miles of Acton High School: 10 past producers, 5 producers, 1 unknown, 1 occurrence.
5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Copper. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Acton, the town this property stands in, in 23 storm reports between 1996 and 2024: 16 thunderstorm wind, 5 hail, 1 flash flood, 1 flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
6,458 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Statement of significance
Applicable National Register Criteria (Mark "x" in one or more boxes for the criteria qualifying the property for National Register listing.) Property is associated with events that have made a significant contribution to the broad patterns of our history. Property is associated with the lives of persons significant in our past. (Expires 5/31/2012) Middlesex County, MA County and State Areas of Significance (Enter categories from instructions.) COMMUNITY PLANNING & DEVELOPMENT ARCHITECTURE EDUCATION C X Property embodies the distinctive characteristics of a type, period, or method of construction or represents the work ot a master, or possesses high artistic values, or represents a significant and distinguishable entity whose components lack individual distinction.
Property has yielded, or is likely to yield, information important in prehistory or history. Period of Significance 1925-1961 Significant Dates 1925 Criteria Considerations (Mark"x" in all the boxes that apply.) Property is: A Owned by a religious institution or used for religious purposes. removed from its original location. C a birthplace or grave. D a cemetery. E a reconstructed building, object, or structure. F a commemorative property. G less than 50 years old or achieving significance within the past 50 years. Significant Person (Complete only if Criterion B is marked above.) N/A Cultural Affiliation N/A Architect/Builder Bickford, John H./ Duncan Construction Company and John F.
Cabeen Period of Significance (justification) The period of significance begins with the construction date of the school, the only extant building on the site, and ends at the 50-year cut off point of 1961. Criteria Considerations (explanation, if necessary) 6 United States Department of the Interior National Park Service / National Register of Historic Places Registration Form NPS Form 10-900 OMB No.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 11000854, 27 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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