History · Bolton

Bolton dates to 1720, and 11% of its homes were built before 1940

More historic than 76% of U.S. towns · #103 of 155 in Connecticut. What drives it

4 places in town are on the National Register, among them two historic districts with 9 buildings between them. Below: 2 old photos and papers, maps from 1892 on, and the census since 1820.

1720founded

4on the National Register

11%homes built before 1940

2old photos & papers

7famous people

Add an old photo Share a memory

From Bolton’s archive · credits on each photo

Quick answers

How Bolton began

When was Bolton founded?

1720

Bolton dates its founding to 1720 (Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history agree). The census first counted it in 1820.

First census: 731 in 1820306 years

How historic is Bolton?

A⁻

More historic than 76% of U.S. towns, on its age, its old homes and the National Register.

What drives the grade ↓

Founding year: Wikidata; Wikipedia’s history section gives the same year. First post office: 1812.The full story ↓

History grade

What drives Bolton’s History grade

On its age, its old homes and the National Register, Bolton is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #103 of 155 in Connecticut. Its age holds the grade up; its share of homes from before 1940 pulls it down.

A⁻

HistoryA character grade: shown, never part of Bolton’s overall grade.

Founding era1720, from Wikidata: founded before 1776, an older era than 96% of U.S. townsA⁺Homes built before 194010.7% of homes (±4.7) · typical CT town 15.1% · U.S. 8.4%B⁻National Register4 listings, 12 historic buildings, 24.7 per 10,000 residents · typical CT town 73.3 · U.S. 2.4B⁻

All U.S. towns we grade (21,289)Ahead of 76%

NewerOlder

Connecticut towns of 2,500+ (155)Ahead of 34%

Connecticut towns list more on the Register than most of the country (a typical Connecticut town has 73.3 per 10,000 residents, the U.S. 2.4), so Bolton’s 24.7 sits below most of its state (26% of Connecticut towns have fewer) while its 12 historic buildings outnumber those of 77% of U.S. towns.

How sure. Graded on any two of the three inputs instead, the letter would range from B− to A−. The pre-1940 share is a Census survey estimate (±4.7 points). Two sources give 1720.

Founding year: Wikidata (other dates in Quick answers). Homes: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register: National Park Service, May 2026 list; each listing counted once (boundary changes and added documentation belong to their listing), and a historic district counts its contributing buildings. How TownRatings grades history →

What stands out about Bolton’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.Shrank, then grewLost a third of its people between 1820 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.On the map since 18927 editions of the USGS map, 1892 to 1984. Watch Bolton change.Older than the countryEstablished in 1720, 56 years before the Declaration of Independence.

★ What stands out · Help out

Start Bolton’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Bolton’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos

00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s

1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.

Retake an old view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps -…: stand where they stood+15 Share a family photoSign in to add one+10

People over time

Bolton, census by census

Lost a third of its people between 1820 and 1910, then grew more than tenfold.

19 censuses, 1820–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bolton’s Wikipedia page.

On the map

Bolton on the map, 1892 to 1984

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bolton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

1892Tolland sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bolton.

The story

How Bolton came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Bolton.

Read it all →

Originally part of the town of Hartford, the area was referred to as Hartford Mountains or Hanover, until incorporation in October 1720. On November 11, 1723, Jonathan Edwards was installed as the pastor of Bolton. It was here that he had his "great awakening".

Bolton was known for its high quality schist stone in the 18th century, and many tombstone carvers such as Gershom Bartlett and Jonathan Loomis sourced their stone from Bolton quarries.

ChaptersClimate

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

From the old history books

What they wrote about Bolton in 1920

Passages that mention Bolton, cut from the printed page as they were published.

Religious services were certainly held here as early as 1722 or 1723 for at a town meeting in Bolton November 17, 1721, definite plans were made for the building of a church as indicated by the following vote : "Voted that the Meeting House shall stand a little north of the pound and said Meeting H… — **A historical sketch of Bolton, Connecticut**1920 · page 21Read the page →
Read the text
Religious services were certainly held here as early as 1722 or 1723 for at a town meeting in Bolton November 17, 1721, definite plans were made for the building of a church as indicated by the following vote : "Voted that the Meeting House shall stand a little north of the pound and said Meeting House shall be of the following dimensions, viz : Forty foott long and thirty five foott Wide and twenty foot between Joynts. Voated at said meeting yt
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

for a brief period. Twenty 3^ears later in 1808 the North Society, having felt for some years the inconvenience of attendingpublic meetings at Bolton Center, was set off as a separate town under the name of Vernon, So Bolton lost that portion of its domain that possessed the greatest natural advant… — **A historical sketch of Bolton, Connecticut**1920 · page 18Read the page →
Read the text
for a brief period. Twenty 3^ears later in 1808 the North Society, having felt for some years the inconvenience of attendingpublic meetings at Bolton Center, was set off as a separate town under the name of Vernon, So Bolton lost that portion of its domain that possessed the greatest natural advantages and the part that was destined to increase most rapidly in population. Such was the beginning and early history of the settlement of Bolton. An in-
Text read by machine from the scan; it may contain errors.

Scans and text from the Internet Archive. Books published in 1930 or earlier, which are in the public domain.

Timeline

Bolton, 1720 to 2000

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

18th century
1720
FoundingBolton is established
1733Born herePeter Olcott is born here
1735Born hereSimeon Olcott is born here
19th century
1812Post officeThe Bolton post office opens
1848Born hereDaniel Russell Brown is born here
1880In the archive1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut - Tolland County - Bolton - ED 7-2
1887Post officeThe Bolton Notch post office opens
1892On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
20th century
1929Post officeThe Bolton Notch post office closes
1930In the archiveVilla Louisa Hotel, R. F. D. No. 1, Manchester, Bolton, Conn (81532)
1942Post officeThe Bolton post office closes
1981Born hereRon Hainsey is born here
21st century
2000CensusPopulation peaks at 5,017

By decade

Bolton, decade by decade

2 decades in the archive, from the 1880s to the 1930s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1880s1 item

1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut - Tolland County - Bolton - ED 7-2

18801940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut -…

1890s–1920snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

1930s1 item

Villa Louisa Hotel, R. F. D. No. 1, Manchester, Bolton, Conn (81532)

c. 1930Villa Louisa Hotel, R. F. D. No. 1, Manchester, Bolto…

1940s–1990snothing yet

Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Add from your album

Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Retake this view1940 Census Enumeration District Maps - Connecticut - Tolland County - Bolton - ED 7-2, 1880

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Bolton’s page.

Retake this view · +15

On the National Register

4 historic places in Bolton

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

places listed

National Historic Landmarks

none yet

historic buildings protected

each building in a district counts

first listed

1990

Jared Cone House

BuildingsDistricts

Architectural styles listings

Federal2

Colonial1

Post Medieval English1

Early Republic1

Mid-19th Century1

Greek Revival1

Jared Cone HouseFederal

Bolton Green Historic DistrictColonial

Oliver White TavernPostmedieval English

All 4 listings

March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Bailey RoadDistrict · listed 2003

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Famous people

7 famous people were born in Bolton

Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.

See all →

Ron HainseyAmerican ice hockey player · b. 1981

Simeon OlcottAmerican politician · b. 1735

Daniel Russell Brown43rd Governor of Rhode Island · b. 1848

Peter OlcottAmerican politician · b. 1733

Julius L. StrongAmerican congressman for Connecticut · b. 1828

Grant Colfax TullarAmerican minister · b. 1869

Places that used to be

Lost post offices and burying grounds

Bolton had its own post office from 1812 to 1942. Another post office, Bolton Notch, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Bolton

1812–1942

Bolton Notch

1887–1929

18101920today

2cemeteries and burying grounds inside Bolton

Bolton CenterQuarryville

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Manchester8 historic placesA⁺Vernon6 historic placesA Andover3 historic placesA Hebron2 historic placesB⁺Glastonbury12 historic placesA⁻

Questions about Bolton’s history

What year was Bolton founded?

In 1720, according to Wikidata and Wikipedia’s history of the town. Bolton’s post office opened in 1812, and the census of 1820 counted 731 people here.

How does Bolton rank for history?

Bolton is more historic than 76% of U.S. towns, #103 of 155 in Connecticut. The History grade combines the town’s founding era, the share of homes built before 1940 and its National Register listings. It’s a character grade, so it isn’t part of the overall grade. How it works.

What is on the National Register in Bolton?

4 listings: 2 buildings, among them the Jared Cone House (listed 1990, the first), and 2 historic districts, the Bolton Green Historic District and the March Route of Rochambeau's Army: Bailey Road, with 9 contributing buildings. 12 historic buildings in all.

How old are the homes in Bolton?

11% of Bolton’s homes were built before 1940 (Census estimate, ±4.7 points), against a typical 15% for a Connecticut town; the median home was built in 1969.

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →

Start a conversation

Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

From Wikimedia Commons (24), the National Register of Historic Places (4), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock), the USGS Geographic Names Information System and old county and town histories (Internet Archive). Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.

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