The story so far
from Wikipedia & the U.S. CensusPontiac 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.
Between the 2010 and 2020 censuses its population fell from 175 to 123 (-30%). Half of its homes were built before 1980.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Pontiac yet — the old photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Intro from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Population and housing: U.S. Census Bureau.
Start Pontiac’s collection
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Pontiac’s history is told.
0 of 10 decades since 1900 have photos 📦Share a family photoSign in to add one+10Pontiac, decade by decade
2000
Nothing in Pontiac is on the National Register yet
That’s true of most small towns. It doesn’t mean Pontiac has no history, only that no one has written up a nomination. The closest listed place is William Jasper Johnson House in Bull Shoals, 9.5 miles away.
Pontiac and the nearest listed places
How a place gets listed
Then & now
When neighbors add old photos, retakes from the same spot appear here side by side.