A charter of incorporation dated 9 September 1876 created the town a municipal borough and it was further extended in 1885.

On incorporation the borough was divided into five wards: Church, Redvales, East, Moorside and Elton.

[5] In 1969 wards were reorganised and the council increased in size to thirty-six councillors and twelve aldermen.

They were an anvil, for iron forging; a golden fleece, for wool; a pair of crossed shuttles, for the cotton industry; and a papyrus plant for the paper trade.

The blazon of the arms was as follows:[13] Quarterly argent and azure, a cross party and fretty counterchanged between an anvil sable in the first quarter, a fleece Or in the second, two shuttles in saltire threads pendent proper in the third, and three culms of the papyrus plant issuing from a mount vert also proper in the fourth.

And for a Crest: On a wreath of the colours, Upon a mount a bee volant between two flowers of the cotton-tree slipped all proper.

In 1900 the corporation and eight adjoining local authorities formed the Bury and District Joint Water Board.

Other than Bury, the water board's members were the municipal boroughs of Haslingden, Radcliffe and Rawtenstall, and the urban districts of Kearsley, Little Lever, Ramsbottom, Tottington and Whitefield.

[20] In 1899 Bury Corporation formed a tramways committee with the purpose of taking the privately owned steam trams operating in the town, and electrifying them.

Bury trams reached Tottington, Unsworth and Whitefield outside the borough boundaries, and the corporation operated services on behalf of Radcliffe Urban District Council.