Pontiac, Illinois
History, Historic House, Historical Society, Library
Pontiac is the legendary Ottawa Indian chief for which the city was named in 1837. The first settlers arrived in 1838. The city was platted in 1837 and became a center of population growth for the area. Industry was established in 1838 when a sawmill opened; the first grain mill opened in 1851. Because of its strategic location along the rail line connecting Chicago, Springfield and St. Louis in the late 1870s, Pontiac became an important regional trading center. Its location along the original Route 66, one of the nation’s first major interstate highways and traveled by hundreds of thousands of people from 1926 to the mid ‘60s, also contributed to the industrial and retail growth of the community.