Ackley is a city in the Franklin and Hardin counties in the U.S. state of Iowa. The population was 1,599 at the 2020 census.

In 1852, immigrants began purchasing farms and settling in the north Hardin County area. In the slip of 1852, L.H. Artedge, a frontiers-man from Indiana staked a allegation just north of the Hardin County lineage and built a cabin close to where Highway 57 now passes. Another settler, Thomas Downs, became the first remaining resident of Ackley. Later his widow sold a strip of house from Butler Street to the four county corner for $3.00 an acre to Minor Gallop. Gallop built a house, just east of Highway 57 which became an inn, a stopover for stagecoaches, and the first read out office.

Many caravans arrived in anticipation of settling in this area. Roby Parriott and wife, Abigail, settled in Washington Township, Butler County. Parriott quickly began to Get more home and purchased what is now the thing section of Ackley.

Mills were built upon the Iowa River south of the community and in 1856 a stage parentage was built from Cedar Falls to Fort Dodge. The Dubuque and Pacific Railroad Company usual a charter from the State of Iowa in the 1850s to construct a railroad. Surveying teams were sent out. One of the members was J. William Ackley. He settled Etna Township was a great place for a railroad station. The home was owned by Parriott and his wife, who had purchased it for speculation.