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History · Pontiac

Pontiac’s post office opened in 1887

Most of Pontiac was built recently: 0.0% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1980. Below: maps from 1943 on.

1887first post office
0on the National Register
0.0%homes built before 1940
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Photo: Bob Warrick · CC BY-SA 3.0
Quick answers

How Pontiac began

When was Pontiac founded?

1887

The Pontiac post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 123139 years
Founding year: the first Pontiac post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).

What stands out about Pontiac’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Pontiac are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Pontiac’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pontiac’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
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The story so far

Pontiac, in brief

Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pontiac yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.

Pontiac is a census-designated place in southern Ozark County, Missouri, United States. It lies six miles south of Isabella and 18.5 miles southwest of Gainesville, on the northeast shore of Bull Shoals Lake. A post office called Pontiac has been in operation since 1887. The community was named in honor of the Ottawa Indian chief Pontiac, perhaps via Pontiac, Michigan. The town is on a ridge above the lake at an elevation of about 820 feet. The lake has a normal surface elevation of 654 feet. The town consists of a post office, a marina and campgrounds on the lake, a restaurant, and a church. Pontiac is accessed via Missouri Route W from Missouri Route 5 south of Gainesville.

Its first post office opened in 1887. Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 175 to 123 (-30%).

Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.

By decade

No old photos in the archives yet

Weddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.

Be the first to add onePhotograph a print flat, in daylight, no flash.
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On the map

Pontiac on the map, 1943 to 2004

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Pontiac. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Pontiac on the 1943 USGS mapPontiac on the 1968 USGS mapPontiac on the 2004 USGS map1943Thornfield sheet · 1:62,500

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Pontiac.

Places that used to be

Places now gone and burying grounds

Pontiac’s post office has been open since 1887.

Gone or out of use
Burse FordcrossingNave Fordcrossing
1cemetery inside Pontiac
Turnbull

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Questions about Pontiac’s history

What year was Pontiac founded?

The Pontiac post office opened in 1887, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
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Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.