Settlers James Leigh and John Jennings are credited with starting the community and naming it after a town in their homeland, Pontypool, Wales.

[3] Lore has it that the fact that there were five distinct pools fed by nearby streams in the immediate vicinity of the settlement may have influenced their decision in naming the village.

By 1917 the economy of the town consisted of: a hotel, two agricultural implements shops, three general merchants, a livery stable, shoe maker, blacksmith, hardware store, bakery, grocery/butcher, Pontypool Telephone, Light and Power Co-operative.

[6] Also in 2009, the 4th Line Theatre, directed by Kim Blackwell, performed The Right Road to Pontypool, a historical play by Alex Poch-Goldin.

The 4th Line Theatre's synopsis of the play reads "The little known true story of how a small village in Ontario became a summer haven for thousands of Jewish immigrants between 1916 and the early 1960s.