Bolton ( ) is a small suburban

town A town is a human settlement. Towns are generally larger than villages and smaller than cities, though the criteria to distinguish between them vary considerably in different parts of the world. Origin and use The word "town" shares an ori ...

Tolland County Tolland County is a county in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. As of the 2020 census, its population was 149,788. It is incorporated into 13 towns and was originally formed on 13 October 1785 from portions of eastern H ...

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

, United States. It is primarily residential with an economy made up mostly of small businesses. The high school typically has between fifty and one hundred students per grade. The population was 4,858 as of the 2020 census. Bolton was incorporated in October 1720 and is governed by

town meeting Town meeting is a form of local government in which most or all of the members of a community are eligible to legislate policy and budgets for local government. It is a town- or city-level meeting in which decisions are made, in contrast with ...

, with a first selectman and board of selectman as well as other boards serving specific functions. Bolton was named after a town of the same name in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, also located near Manchester.

History

Originally part of the town of

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

, the area was referred to as Hartford Mountains or Hanover, until incorporation in October 1720. On 11 November 1723, Jonathan Edwards was installed as the pastor of Bolton. 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. Bolton was removed from

Hartford County Hartford County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state of Connecticut. According to the 2020 census, the population was 899,498, making it the second-most populous county in Connecticut. Hartford County contains the ...

when Tolland County was originally formed on 13 October 1785. The northern half of Bolton was set aside in 1808 to form the town of Vernon. Quarries played a significant role in the area's developing economy, and Bolton Notch became the location of the small community of Quarryville. Prior to the railroad, granite was taken by oxcart to the Connecticut River where it was then shipped to major cities on the East Coast. The Bolton historical society has been actively purchasing sites throughout the town in their effort to preserve the town's history and rural character. The most recent of these purchases was Rose's Farm, a several hundred-acre site where the

Comte de Rochambeau Marshal Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, comte de Rochambeau, 1 July 1725 – 10 May 1807, was a French nobleman and general whose army played the decisive role in helping the United States defeat the British army at Yorktown in 1781 during the ...

camped with his troops. Bolton has several restrictive ordinances designed to protect high housing prices for existing home owners and restrict new construction. Ordinances protecting existing businesses from competition also exist, such as those limiting the types and number of businesses. There is also a requirement that all new residential lots be no smaller than 1 acre, further keeping house prices artificially higher than they otherwise would likely be. The town features numerous parks, open spaces and trails.

Climate

Bolton, like much of

, straddles the

humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers and freezing ...

(Dfa) and (Dfb) line.

Education

Bolton High School is a public school with about two to three hundred students. It underwent major renovations and expansion during 2011, including a new outdoor seating area for the cafeteria, a larger and more technologically advanced library, computer labs and media center, and a new science wing and larger administrative offices. Several other improvements were made including parking, bus lanes and the board of education offices being moved to the location. The school has a student-teacher ratio of about 12:1 and a combined math and reading proficiency level of 92.5%. ''U.S. News & World Report'' ranked it #27 in Connecticut and #1030 in the United States, and it earned a Silver Award in 2012. Bolton High is affiliated with the NCCC athletic conference.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of t ...

, the town has a total area of , of which, is land and (1.91%) is water. This includes the Bolton Green Historic District and may include land owned or leased by the State of Connecticut and the U.S. federal government. Bolton doesn't have any unincorporated land.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

of 2010, there were 4,980 people, 1,915 households, and 1,438 families residing in the town. The town's residents are primarily middle-class, with some working class and upper middle-class families/individuals and small businesses. There are also a few larger commercial entities, notably the Simoniz corporation, specializing in automotive and car wash cleaning supplies. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical ...

in 2010 was 346 people per square mile (133.5/km). There were 2,015 housing units in the town, of which 100, or 5.0%, were vacant. 86.7% of the occupied units are owned and 13.3% are rented. The racial makeup of the town was 95.7%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no hue). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully reflect and scatter all the visible wavelengths of light. White o ...

, 1.1%

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.1% Native American, 1.4% Asian, 0.2% some other race, and 1.5% two or more races. 3.00% of the population identified as

Latino Latino or Latinos most often refers to: * Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America * Hispanic and Latino Americans in the United States * The people or cultures of Latin America; ** Latin A ...

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties forme ...

of any race (the US Census Bureau does not consider Latino a race). The

median age A population pyramid (age structure diagram) or "age-sex pyramid" is a graphical illustration of the distribution of a population (typically that of a country or region of the world) by age groups and sex; it typically takes the shape of a pyramid ...

in 2010 was 45.4. 49.4% of the population were male and 50.6% female. For the period 2012–2016, the estimated

median household income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two equal groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways o ...

was $91,087, and the median family income was $118,958. About 3.2% of the population are living below the poverty line.

Notable people

* Aloysius Ahearn, teacher and member of the

Connecticut House of Representatives The Connecticut State House of Representatives is the lower house in the Connecticut General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Connecticut. The house is composed of 151 members representing an equal number of districts, with ...

(1975–1977, 1979–1981) *

Ralph Earl Ralph Earl (May 11, 1751 – August 16, 1801) was an American painter known for his portraits, of which at least 183 can be documented. He also painted six landscapes, including a panorama display of Niagara Falls. Early life Ralph Ea ...

, artist and portrait painter; died in Bolton in 1801 * Ron Hainsey, NHL alternate captain and defenseman for the

Ottawa Senators The Ottawa Senators (french: Sénateurs d'Ottawa), officially the Ottawa Senators Hockey Club and colloquially known as the Sens, are a professional ice hockey team based in Ottawa. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a membe ...

and Stanley Cup champion *

Simeon Olcott Simeon Olcott (October 1, 1735February 22, 1815) was a New Hampshire attorney and politician. His career began before the American Revolution and continued afterwards, and among the positions in which he served were Chief Judge of the New Hampsh ...

US Senator The United States Senate is the upper chamber of the United States Congress, with the House of Representatives being the lower chamber. Together they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States. The composition and powe ...

from New Hampshire; born in Bolton in 1735 * Julius L. Strong (1828–1872), U.S. Congressman * George G. Sumner, politician; Connecticut House of Representative for Bolton; Mayor of Hartford; Lieutenant Governor and Governor of Connecticut; a native of Bolton * William Williams, born in Bolton on September 6, 1815

References

External links

Town websiteBolton Public SchoolsBolton Historical Society
{{authority control Towns in Tolland County, Connecticut Towns in Connecticut Greater Hartford