THE first period of the Bolton Evening News showed how a growing town like Bolton needed its own evening newspaper.

Thanks to the foresight of the Tillotson family, Boltononians were able to read about all kinds of events happening in their town.

For instance, work on rebuilding the beautiful St Peter's Parish Church was started in 1867 and only finished in 1871, while in August, 1868, the new Bradshawgate Post Office was opened.

Also in 1871 millowners agreed to give their workers Saturday afternoon off.

Other important dates marked by the Evening News included in 1872 George Hunt's shop in Chequerbent Lane blown apart by gunpowder, killing poor Mrs Hunt.

In 1876, 13 babies died after being poisoned by milk in Eagley and on January 17, 1878, the first telephone arrived in Bolton when the Gas office in Hotel Street was connected with The Gas Street works - a distance of 500 yards.

In 1884, The Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway established its Locomotive Works in Horwich and it became one of the six major railway towns in the country. The town's name became synonymous with railway craftsmanship for nearly 100 years. On June 18, 1885, an explosion at Clifton Hall Colliery killed 176 men and boys. Bolton raised £2,000 for the widows.