In the year 1836, on the ground where the Davis block stands, there was a school called the Academy, it was the first academy in Michigan - Charles Draper, the oldest member of the Oakland county bar was the teacher. The only churches in the city in 1837 stood where the Baptist and Congregational churches now stand .

Joseph J. Todd scored and hewed the timber for the first court house and jail. Asa B. Hadsell got out the timber for the first mill, which mill is now the south part of the Pontiac Knitting Works. The house that stood next north of the Davis block, in 1837, is now used by Turk Brothers as a barn on the rear of said lot . George Hungerford built and opened the Northern Hotel, and at this time there was no house on what is now Oakland avenue, until you reached the Solomon Close house, now owned and occupied by Henry E. Allison, Wherever you see a house in the city with large round wooden pillars in front, it was built by Solon Comstock, brother of Elkanah B. Comstock. The house where Mrs. Voorheis now lives , 235 Saginaw North, was moved from where the Clinton Hall block now stands, by T. A. Flower, an old resident of Pontiac, who now lives in southern California.

The house No. 362 Saginaw North, where the Nusbaumer brothers now live, was the second house built north of the Northern Hotel. It was built by Isaac Caskey, who was a noted carpenter for those days; he did the inside joiner work of the Hotel Hodges, in 1838. The Lucy Beach house was the only house on Perry street northeast of the corner of School and Perry streets. Elisha Beach at that time owned and kept store where the post office now stands. The post office was the only building saved on either side of the street from the great fire in 1840. Joseph J. Todd raised the first crop on the ground where Dr. Galbraith's residence now stands. The old Pontiac Company's house was built at what is now 46 Perry street, where Jacob Kobe now lives, and the same company's barn stood on the southeast corner of Perry and Lawrence streets; the same barn was moved and now stands opposite Miller's Ten Cent barns, corner of Lawrence street west and the alley. The Jacob Kobe house on the northeast corner of Lawrence and Perry streets, was at one J. H. Harger & Co.'s time Henry Pratt's shoe store, and stood where W. D. Harshaw & Co.'s drug store now stands.

The house on the southwest corner of Pike and Parke streets, now owned by J. Frank Dunning, was the first house built on the east side of Clinton river, and erected by Dr. Allen .

The first burying ground in Pontiac was on the southwest corner of Water and Hill streets; the bodies have all been removed to Oak Hill Cemetery.

The only old district school building left in the city, is the brick at the corner of Auburn avenue and Parke, now 61 Auburn avenue. What is now the Methodist Episcopal parsonage, was moved from where Mrs. Willard M. McConnell now lives. The double house, numbered 9 and 11 Auburn avenue, was once the checkered store, and stood where Turk Brothers' crockery store now stands, and was kept by a Mr. Newcomb, for the sale of dry goods and groceries.

The first property that Thomas Turk ever owned in Pontiac was the little frame house north and joining J. F. Rundel & Son's lumber yard. Thomas Nicholas Turk, of Turk Bros., was born there. No. 188 Saginaw south, was the first house built in that locality, and was the first house reached in the city coming from Detroit to Pontiac, as far back as 1837. The northeast corner of Saginaw south and Whittemore streets was the Gideon O. Whittemore residence; Mrs. Judson now lives there.

The first newspaper printed and edited in Pontiac, was called the Pontiac Courier, and was printed in the north end of the building now owned and occupied by Isaac Broughton, Saginaw south. The old wooden building on the southwest corner of Patterson and Saginaw south, was at one time the Pontiac Bank, and once was occupied by Thomas Turk as a residence. Mrs. John Pound was born in this old bank building.

To illustrate how well the buildings were put together in an early day, is the following: The old Catholic church that stands on the northwest corner of Lawrence east and Perry streets, first stood where the Davis block now is, and was the old academy heretofore mentioned, and was purchased by the Universalist church and society and moved to the lot where John Kallenbach's grocery store now stands. After some years it was sold by said Universalist society to the Catholic society, and moved on the lot where Frederick Durrant now lives, and was used for church purposes many years, and then sold by the Catholic church to C. B. Pittman and moved to the corner of Perry and Lawrence east, where it is now used as an agricultural implement warehouse, and is a fairly good building yet .

John P. LeRoy's old home was the second house west of James D. Halfpenny's blacksmith shop on Lawrence west, on the north bank of Clinton river.

The house on Lawrence street west, where Mrs. Francis Darrow now lives, was considered a mansion in its day.

Abel H. Peck built the house on Huron street west, between A. Parker's residence and Dr. Chapman's residence, and occupied it for many years . The brick block on northeast corner of Lawrence and Saginaw north, owned by Mrs. M. E. Crofoot, was the first brick building erected on Saginaw street.

Source: Pontiac City Directory 1895