- Congregationalists were Protestant, independent worshippers and each ‘congregation’ was autonomous
- The Bolton Congregationalists built a mud brick church which opened on December 15h, 1842. The church and cemetery were adjacent to Richard Paxman’s tannery property and it is understood that Richard Paxman provided the land
- Rev Joseph Wheeler, a trained blacksmith, carriage ironer, musician and man-of-all-trades, was the first paster of the Bolton Circuit (including Macville) starting in 1845
- The1851 census recorded Mary and Joseph Wheeler and daughter Emily living in a one storey frame house. The house was likely built around 1846 just as Charles Bolton was starting to selling lots on the south side of King Street East (the former clergy reserve)
- Church membership grew rapidly in the early 1850s, a reflection both of local prosperity and Rev. Wheeler’s ministry. In 1853, the ‘Sabbath School’ enrollment doubled in one year to over 70 students despite the requirement to spend 4.5 hours at church each Sunday
- By 1863, the mudbrick building was deteriorating badly and was replaced, on the same site, by a larger timber frame structure with roughcast exterior and beautiful gothic windows. It opened in January 1864.
- Rev. Wheeler made the pipe organ that filled the church with music
- For years, Joseph Wheeler was the only resident minister in Bolton. He was revered by his congregation who supported him with donations of produce or whatever they could offer
- After his death in 1878, a new minister could not be found and members were gradually drawn to other local churches. The Congregational Church closed its doors in 1879
And the building?
- The church was the site of the James F. Warbrick’s funeral on November 15, 1889. In 1910, it was finally dismantled by Lincoln Hutton who used the large timbers to build a house on a lot his wife owned at 72 Nancy Street, later Newlove’s home.