History of Pontiac, Michigan.

For those who don't know, Pontiac is rather a suburb of Detroit, Michigan and a satellite city of Detroit. In fact Pontiac is home to some of the best community colleges such as Pontiac Community College. In Pontiac's prime years, Pontiac was home to many educational facilities and manufacturing facilities. Scholars from all over the world came to teach in Pontiac and Detroit.

The first settlers arrived in Pontiac in 1818. This city was designed to be a city of commerce similar to how the layout structure was done for City of Commerce, California. Pontiac was built a safe haven from the hustle and bustle from Detroit.

In the 60s and 70s, Pontiac fought very hard against racial integration. At one time Pontiac was a haven for white flight. Now the city is mostly back and mixed as a result of forced bused integration. Yes Pontiac did use busing as a form of integration. Detroit and Pontiac were hard to integrate. Pontiac was once home the automobile manufacturer Pontiac. In fact, Pontiac was once home to many GM, Buick, and Pontiac manufacturing facilities.

Ever since 1970, Pontiac has been facing a population decline due to racial integration and the deindustrialization of manufacturing complex in the United States. The jobs that were once formally in Pontiac were outsourced to Canada and other countries. As I said before in my reviews about the Flint automobile manufacturing facilities, Detroit, Flint, and Pontiac were hit hard by the GM pullouts and layoffs.

In 2008, Pontiac went under extensive urban renewal and redevelopment. City officials decided it was time for some massive urban renewal for the city of Pontiac. Massive infrastructure reform was done to the entire city. The roads themselves are okay. You will see some of them still have potholes. However the population is still declining if you look at the US Statistics Census for Pontiac. There are areas of Pontiac that are unsafe and very dangerous. Despite the previous high crime rate and poverty that affects Pontiac, the city itself is rebuilding as urban development progresses. Even in 2015, the city of Pontiac is still facing urban blight and urban decay leading to its decline.