Oak Hill Cemetery: Pontiac’s stories in stone
A drive through Oak Hill opens another way into Pontiac’s history. Continue beyond the district boundaries and follow the people behind the city.
Watch on YouTube ↗
Oakland County · Southeast Michigan · Michigan
Pontiac, district by district.
Five starting points for understanding Pontiac through its neighborhoods, commercial streets, and industrial-era housing. Follow the district guides, then meet the wider city through HLC’s films and The Foundry.
The Pontiac collection
A city with more than one story.
Pontiac’s historic places hold different chapters: early residential growth, the rhythms of downtown trade, and the homes built as industry expanded. Read the streets together to see how those chapters connect.
Residential · Pontiac
Franklin Boulevard
Explore the historic boulevard and nearby streets through HLC’s existing neighborhood guide.
Explore the story →Residential · Pontiac
Seminole Hills
Discover an established Pontiac neighborhood through its homes, architecture, and street character.
Explore the story →Residential · Pontiac
Fairgrove Avenue
Fairgrove Avenue tells Pontiac’s history at the scale of a single residential block. Broad porches, familiar rooflines, and closely spaced homes invite a look at the everyday city behind its factories and downtown landmarks.
Explore the story →Planned residential neighborhood · Pontiac
Modern Housing Corporation
Pontiac’s automotive story continues beyond the factory gates. The Modern Housing Corporation Addition connects General Motors’ growth with the urgent question of where its workers would live—and shows how a planned neighborhood could take shape around that need.
Explore the story →Commercial & civic · Pontiac
Downtown Pontiac
Downtown Pontiac is a place to read upward as well as along the sidewalk. Storefronts, upper-floor windows, theaters, and business buildings reveal the layers of a county seat that grew into an automotive city.
Explore the story →This collection combines neighborhood guides and National Register district profiles. Names and boundaries can differ across local and national designations; follow each guide’s original records for exact property coverage.
Watch Pontiac
People, places, and what comes next.
The Foundry in Pontiac’s Riker Building
Explore the historic building and the HLC community taking shape inside it.
Watch on YouTube ↗The Foundry by History Loves Company
The story has a home here.
Continue your visit in downtown Pontiac at The Foundry: a place for makers, vintage finds, creative work, and community. Historic places become part of the present through the people who use them.
35 W Huron Street · Pontiac, Michigan
The next connection
Pontiac is part of a wider region.
Explore HLC
Southeast Michigan
Connect Pontiac and Oakland County with Wayne and Macomb counties.
Explore the story →Explore HLC
Detroit
Explore the city through thirty neighborhood and historic district guides.
Explore the story →Explore HLC
Michigan
Keep following architecture, industry, and human stories across the state.
Explore the story →Continue building by building
The downtown Pontiac archive.
History Loves Company
Pontiac Building Archive
Follow downtown one address at a time, with histories, original films, and commercial property inquiries.
Explore the story →History Loves Company
Buildings We’ve Lost
Remember Cooley, Highland Towers, Hudson’s, Tiger Stadium, and the gathering places that shaped the region.
Explore the story →History Loves Company
Keep following the story.
Watch the films, read They Lied to Us About Detroit, and meet HLC in person at The Foundry in downtown Pontiac.
