Acton is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Shelby County, in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Alabama Alabama ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Deep South, Deep Southern regions of the United States. It borders Tennessee to the north, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gu ...

. It is partially located within the city of

Hoover Hoover may refer to: Music * Hoover (band), an American post-hardcore band * Hooverphonic, a Belgian band originally named Hoover * Hoover (singer), Willis Hoover, a country and western performer active in 1960s and '70s * "Hoover" (song), a 201 ...

. It is not to be confused with the village of Acton, approximately miles to the northeast in Jefferson County.

History

Alabama Fuel & Iron Company established coal mines at Acton and the company town of Acton grew up around them. The mines were served by the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of ...

. On November 18, 1913, 21 miners were killed by an explosion in Mine Number 2. After the mines closed, the area was converted into the Riverchase real estate development. A post office was established at Acton in 1908, and remained in operation until it was discontinued in 1926. The community was likely named for William Acton, a local businessperson in the mining industry. In the 1970s, the land was developed into the Riverchase residential planned community, which was annexed into

Hoover, Alabama Hoover is a city in the Jefferson County, Alabama, Jefferson and Shelby County, Alabama, Shelby counties in north central Alabama, United States. Hoover is the largest suburban city in Alabama and the sixth largest city in Alabama. The populati ...

in 1980.

Demographics

Acton/Highland Precinct (1870-1950)

According to the census returns from 1850-2010 for Alabama, Acton village has never reported a population figure separately on the U.S. Census. Acton (Precinct 12 of Shelby County) first appeared on the 1920 U.S. Census (not to be confused with Acton's Precinct 15, which appeared in 1880 and was moved to Jefferson County, where the other Acton village is located). Acton Precinct only appeared under this name on this one occasion. Prior to 1920 and again from 1930 to 1950 the name was Highland Precinct, which first appeared on the 1870 census as Shelby County Beat 4 and then Beat/Precinct 12 from 1880-onwards. In 1960, the precincts were merged and/or reorganized into census divisions (as part of a general reorganization of counties) and it was consolidated into the census division of

Helena Helena may refer to: People *Helena (given name), a given name (including a list of people and characters with the name) *Katri Helena (born 1945), Finnish singer * Saint Helena (disambiguation), this includes places Places Greece * Helena ...

. In 1980, that census division was consolidated into the new division of Alabaster-Helena.1980 AL Census
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References

External links

Pictures of Acton coal mines
Unincorporated communities in Shelby County, Alabama Unincorporated communities in Alabama {{ShelbyCountyAL-geo-stub