U. S. Post Office - Pontotoc Historic District - Pontotoc, MS - NRHP Historic Districts - Contributing Buildings on Waymarking.com

County of post office: Pontotoc County
Location of post office: 59 S. Main St., Pontotoc
Built: 1937
Architect: Louis A. Simon, Supervising Architect of the Treasury
Phone: (662) 488-0388
Building number 44 on the NRHP list of contributing buildings

"44. (C) 59 South Main Street
U. S. Post Office
One-story, hipped-roof, brick, Colonial Revival post office building constructed in 1936. Central double-leaf aluminum and glass doors surrounded by a stone architrave with dentil molding in the cornice. Two 12/12 DH windows with flat arches flank each side of the entrance. There is a stone water table and cornice with dentil molding. Brick quoins at corners. Granite steps lead up to entrance. Inside is a mural depicting a Christmas Feast given in 1540 by Spanish explorer Hernando DeSoto to honor the first recorded Christian marriage in North America which took place near Pontotoc. The mural was painted for the post office by Joseph Pallet." ~ NRHP Nomination Form

"The physical arrangement of Pontotoc is that of a grid superimposed on a ridge road that runs approximately ten degrees west of north. This ridge road, known as Main Street inside the city limits, is the major thoroughfare for the downtown area. The grid of the town is laid out with streets running parallel to Main Street (Liberty and Lafayette) and perpendicular to Main Street (Jefferson, Marion, Washington, Green, Morgan, First, Second, Third, Fourth, Fifth, and Seventh). The historic district encompasses eleven blocks along Main Street between Reynolds to the north and Seventh to the south and roughly one block east and west of Main. In the center of downtown is an open green space known as Confederate Park or Town Square. This square was, from 1840 to 1916, the site of the county courthouse. In 1916 this building was demolished when the present courthouse, which was built on the block to the south, was completed.
This new building faces northward onto the Square. This Square is the visual, geographical, and historical center of Pontotoc. The Square is casually landscaped with mature trees. Mature trees line the streets in the residential areas. Small street trees have been planted along the sidewalks fronting some of the commercial buildings.

The majority of Pontotoc's historic commercial buildings are centered around and north of the square on Main Street. Most of the commercial buildings in Pontotoc are set next to the sidewalk. These buildings, dating from the 1890's to the 1930's, are built of brick with very simple detailing. Most of these buildings are one story although a few, mostly around the square, are two or three stories. The three-story courthouse very clearly dominates the downtown area." ~ NRHP Nomination Form