Bolton is the most populous community in the town of Caledon, on the Humber River located in the Region of Peel, approximately 50 kilometres northwest of Toronto, in Ontario, Canada. In regional documents, it is referred to as a 'Rural Service Centre.' It has 26,478 residents in 8,721 households. The downtown and area that historically defined the village is in a valley, through which flows the Humber. The current village extends on either side of the valley to the north and south.
Geography
The conservation lands' forests dominate a large part of the northwest, the north, the east including along the Humber valley. These conservation lands have created several recreational areas; including parts of the Humber Valley Heritage Trail. Farmland and the protected Oak Ridges Moraine dominate the landscape surrounding the village. There are two 400-series highways nearby, including Highway 427, about 15 km southeast, and Highway 400, about 14 km east.
History
The town, formerly known as Bolton Mills, was founded in around 1822 when James Bolton helped build a flour mill for his relative George Bolton. By 1857, Bolton was a village with a population of 700 in the Township of Albion of Peel County. It was established on the River Humber on the line of the proposed Toronto, Grey and Bruce Railway. There were stages to and from Weston. The average price of land was $40 to $50 an acre. The suburban housing developments began near King Street, up to 15th Sideroad of Albion. The urban area did not expand until the late 1970s and early 1980s, which also led to development of an industrial area in the southwest. The urban area up to Columbia Way - the northern boundary - began booming in the late 1980s. Housing developments continued towards the southern and the western parts of the town about 1 km northwest of the heart of town in the 1990s and the 15th Sideroad in about 1995, especially to the north. The industrial area began adding buildings to the southwest up to Simpson Road. The urban areas merged with the southern part in 2000 and the northwest. Future growth is a subject of debate amongst the village's residents as well as within the upper- and lower-tier municipal governments.
Demographics
As of the 2016 census, the top three ethnic groups in Bolton are Italian, Canadian, and English.
