Locations

If you needed to keep your car running, Frenchy’s was the place to go after it was established in the 1940s. Americans couldn’t buy new cars due to the war effort, but Frenchy’s store and his generosity drove the Roseville area through those tough times.

Roads like the Gratiot Turnpike were made with framed, durable planks before concrete paved streets first appeared. For 2 cents, you could take your carriage, drawn by two animals, across the turnpike.

The Detroit & Pontiac Railroad started it all, running a right-of-way into the city in 1843 that is still operating today under the Canadian National banner. 

While the population of Pontiac grew, so did the need for medical facilities to serve the community. In 1910, Pontiac City Hospital opened as Oakland County's first hospital, then became Pontiac General, and is now called Doctors' Hospital. 

The City of Pontiac Municipal Airport opened in 1928 as a critical link for the automobile industry and a sign that Pontiac was on the move. It gave industry leaders quick travel in and out of Pontiac, and moved vital parts and supplies. Today it is the second-busiest airport in Michigan with a 6,250 foot instrument runway. 

Downtown stores once prospered with a dynamic auto industry encircling the city, but over time the growing use of automobiles made it easier to shop elsewhere causing downtown retail to fade. The Sears building remains a reminder of the past and now transformed, a symbol of a promising rebirth for downtown Pontiac. 

Inventive and competitive people were drawn to Pontiac, or inspired here, by the city's industrial culture and in patent drawings they left a record of their ideas and contributions. Inventors carefully registered and documented ideas to protect their ownership and to clarify their uses. 

Built in 1893 for the family of community leader Augustus C. Baldwin, after whom Baldwin Road was named. This house was home to many but served longest as a funeral home, owned by the Huntoon family for almost 80 years. The Baldwin House is a reminder of how well-built buildings stand the test of time and enrich communities. 

Flint was becoming well known around the world, not only for the automobile industry but from the many services and suppliers that supported the auto industry. There were several companies such as plating factories, parts producers, and founderies that had established facilities near the growing General Motors. 

The highest point of land in Pontiac was selected as the village cemetery in 1822 and from 1840 a long line of accomplished individuals have been buried at Oak Hill.