The story
Read it all →How Bolton came to be
From Wikipedia’s history of Bolton.
Bolton was established in 1899 and named for the Bolton Lumber Company. It became an incorporated community in 1915.
Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
–Not graded
History · Bolton
Bolton’s post office opened in 1866, and 24% of its homes were built before 1940
Below: maps from 1954 on and the census since 1920.
1866first post office
0on the National Register
24%homes built before 1940
3famous people
Quick answers
How Bolton began
When was Bolton founded?
1866
The Bolton post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name.
First census: 699 in 19202020 census: 519160 years
Founding year: the first Bolton post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓
What stands out about Bolton’s past
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
★ 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
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.People over time
Bolton, census by census
Peaked at 976 in 1930; 519 people lived here in 2020.
11 censuses, 1920–2020.
U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Bolton’s Wikipedia page.
Timeline
Bolton, 1866 to 1954
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
By decade
No old photos in the archives yet
Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
Add from your albumOn the map
Bolton on the map, 1954 to 1986
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Bolton. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
1954Bolton sheet · 1:62,500U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Bolton.
Famous people
See all →3 famous people were born in Bolton
Writers, athletes, leaders and more, ranked by how widely they’re known.
Questions about Bolton’s history
What year was Bolton founded?
The Bolton post office opened in 1866, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
Memory lane
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
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). How TownRatings grades history →
From 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) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.