Pontotoc

Formed November 16, 1907 (64^th county)

Pontotoc County (38,065), Ada (16,488)

The masonry Classical Revival courthouse at Broadway and 13^th was built in 1926.  United States Highway 377 is five blocks east of the location.  Butler Company designed this building.  It is the only courthouse in the county therefore Ada has been the only county seat.  Veteran memorials are on the grounds.  The county was organized on November 16, 1907 as the 64^th county.  Pontotoc County was named for the Mississippi home of the Chickasaw Native Americans.  The name means “cat tails growing on the prairie.”  Ada was named for the postmaster’s daughter, Ada Reed.  Pontotoc County is the birthplace of 1 Oklahoma Governor, Robert S. Kerr. 

Pontotoc County government consists of a sheriff and 3 Commissioners.  Six District Court Judges serve Pontotoc, Hughes, and Seminole counties.  The county is in central Oklahoma, southeast of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  The Canadian River is the entire northern border.  The county center is in Ada 1.2 miles Southeast of the city center.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Seminole, Hughes, Coal, Johnston, Murray, Garvin, McLain, and Pottawatomie counties. 

The area of the county is 720 square miles.  It is 50 out of 77 in the state.  It ranks 28 out of 77 in population in the state.  It has a density of 52.9 persons per square mile making it 22 out of 77 in the state.  Pontotoc County has 52.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  United States Highway 377 enters from Seminole County on the north and exits into Johnston County on the south.  The county is shaped like a square bowl with the meandering Canadian River on the north.  Ada is in the north part of the county.  Ada is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 43.3% of the county population.  The county is pronounced PON-TOE-TOK.  The county seat is pronounced AE-DA.  This county is in the Ada Micropolitan Statistical Area.

Allen