Acton, the oldest community in what is now Hood County, was settled during the 1850s. First called "Comanche Peak" when a post office was established there on March 10, 1856, the town was renamed "Acton" before the post office reopened on March 16, 1868. Clarence P. Hollis, a pioneer merchant and early postmaster, donated 1.43 acres of land for the public square in the 1860s. 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 the center of this rural community.