PONTOTOC
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PONTOTOC |
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NAME: Pontotoc COUNTY: Mason ROADS: 2WD GRID: 3 CLIMATE: Hot summers; Mild winters BEST TIME TO VISIT: Spring, summer, fall, winter |
COMMENTS:
There are just a handful of residents still living in Pontotoc, but it is mainly a bunch of rundown homes and business that are not functional. There, however, is a tiny convenient store that people can buy snacks from, but there is no attendant so you have to write what you bought on a pad and leave some cash. REMAINS: Homes and businesses |
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M. Robert Kidd, proprietor of the first general store and originally from Pontotoc, Mississippi, is said to have given the community and the creek their names. In 1859, Benjamin J. Willis was one of the first settlers in this community that was historically a junction of roads leading to San Saba from Fort Mason and from Llano. A small number of other families arrived in the same time period, establishing the community by 1878. Pontotoc included a hotel, general stores, mills, and businesses related to the horse industry. Agriculture products of cotton and pecans helped support a community economy that also included wool and cattle.Pontotoc fell victim to a typhoid epidemic in 1887, in such severity that it caused the establishment of a secondary cemetery to serve the needs.Pontotoc received its post office on January 5, 1880.Pontotoc had a local newspaper in 1906, and received its first telephone in 1914. A mica mining operation was begun in 1924. In 1941, Pontotoc had seven businesses. In 1947, a fire that began in the local theater swept through the town. Some of the structures were re-built, but the burned out shells of the others stand today.In 1883, the Pontotoc and San Fernando Academy was established. At its peak, the school had a student body enrollment of 200 for generalized education, or for achievement of teaching certificates. With so much of the population decimated by the typhoid epidemic, the school went under in 1889. It was sold to the Pontotoc public school system, which used the academy as a public school until 1927. The closing of the academy impacted the local economy and was a factor in the decline of the population decline. Submitted by: Emily  Pontotoc Courtesy Emily |
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