Acton, Florida
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Acton was a community in Polk County,
Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...
, United States. The town was situated two miles east of Lakeland, which it preceded. It was a settlement of English people from Great Britain. It was established in 1884 named for
Lord Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, Liberal politician, and writer. A strong advocate for individua ...
. The community began dispersing to Lakeland in 1889 and disappeared after the great freeze of 1894. A historical marker in Interlachen Park commemorates its history. The
South Florida Railroad The South Florida Railroad was a railroad from Sanford, Florida, to Tampa, Florida, becoming part of the Plant System in 1893 and the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad in 1902. It served as the southernmost segment of the Atlantic Coast Line's ma ...
advertised a route through the community. An episcopal church was built in the community and later moved to Lakeland.


History

Acton was
plat In the United States, a plat ( or ) (plan) is a cadastral map, drawn to scale, showing the divisions of a piece of land. United States General Land Office surveyors drafted township plats of Public Lands Survey System, Public Lands Surveys to ...
ted in 1884, and named for
Lord Acton John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, 13th Marquess of Groppoli, (10 January 1834 – 19 June 1902), better known as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, Liberal politician, and writer. A strong advocate for individua ...
. A post office was established at Acton in 1884, and remained in operation until 1889. Construction of a railroad shifted business activity to nearby Lakeland, and the town's population dwindled.


See also

*
List of ghost towns in Florida This is an incomplete list of ghost towns in Florida sortable by name, county, or coordinates. The county names are modern (as of 2018); in several cases, the ghost town, when inhabited, was in a different county than the modern one. ...


References

Ghost towns in Florida Former populated places in Polk County, Florida Populated places established in 1884 1884 establishments in Florida {{US-ghost-town-stub