Acton Public Square

Duane's take

Here's how the marker on Acton Public Square tells it, and I'll do my best to do it justice. Now, if you want to talk about the oldest community in what is now Hood County, you're going to have to rewind all the way to the 1850s; because that's when settlers first put down roots in a place they'd eventually call Acton. But they didn't call it Acton right away.

No, at first they called it Comanche Peak. And on March 10, 1856, that name went official when a post office opened under that banner. So far, so good.

Except (well, something changed). By the time that post office reopened on March 16, 1868, the name Comanche Peak was gone. The town had been renamed Acton in the meantime.

The marker doesn't say who blinked first or why, just that the name changed between those two dates. Twelve years. A new name.

And a fresh start. Now, somewhere in the 1860s, a man named Clarence P. Hollis (pioneer merchant, early postmaster) did something that would shape this place for generations.

He donated one point four three acres of land for a public square. That square became the hub of commercial activity, the beating heart of the community. Folks gathered there.

Business got done. Life happened on that square. Then the buildings around it burned.

The marker doesn't dwell on it, and neither will I; but that's a hard sentence. The hub went quiet. The square declined.

And it stayed that way for a good long while. Then, in 1974, somebody took another look. The site was resurveyed, and the square was restored as the center of this rural community.

All those years later, Clarence Hollis's one point four three acres still had something to say. Turns out, some things you can burn around; but you can't quite burn away.

What the marker says

The oldest community in what is now Hood County, Acton was settled during the 1850's. First called "Comanche Peak" when a post office was established here on March 10, 1856, the town was renamed "Acton" before the post office was reopened, March 16, 1868. Clarence P. Hollis, pioneer merchant and early postmaster, donated 1.43 acres of land for this public square in the 1860's. Once the hub of commercial activity, the square declined after many of the buildings around it burned. The site was resurveyed in 1974 and restored as center of this rural community. (1976)