- It is unclear who provided the land for Bolton’s first church, a small chapel, built around 1842 for adherents to Primitive Methodism, but it was probably George Bolton.
- George owned the land where the he frame building with roughcast exterior was built at the corner of Chapel Street and King Street East
- Primitive Methodism known as ‘Camp Meeting’ or ‘Ranter’ Methodism was a less formal, less structured way to teach the Gospel which appealed to early settlers
- By 1873, the congregation had outgrown their chapel. They built a larger, red brick, gothic styled church on the adjacent corner using bricks from the nearby Norton brickyard
- In 1885, Primitive and Wesleyan Methodists across Canada joined together. In Bolton, the two separate congregations followed suit, selecting the larger Bolton Wesley Church as their place of worship
- The Primitive Methodist church became redundant
T.C. Prosser, 1854 map And the buildings?
- The original frame chapel was sold to the Orange Lodge around 1874 and was used by their membership for close to 100 years. In 1980, the building was sold, set on a new foundation and became John’s Barber Shop. It is Bolton’s oldest building still standing
- The red brick church was sold to the Village of Bolton as their Town Hall.
Chapel, circa 1930s, then in use as Bolton’s Orange Lodge
