Ponca City was created in 1893 as "New Ponca" after the
United States opened the
Cherokee Outlet for European-American settlement during the
Cherokee Strip land run, the largest
land run in United States history. The site for Ponca City was selected for its proximity to the
Arkansas River, a railway, and the presence of a
freshwater spring near the river at what is modern 13th Street and South Avenue in Ponca City. The city was laid out by Burton Barnes, who drew up the first
survey of the city and sold certificates for the
lots he had surveyed. After the drawing for lots in the city was completed, Barnes was elected the city's first mayor. Another city,
Cross, vied with Ponca City to become the leading city in the area. After the
Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway had opened a station in Cross, people thought it would not open another in Ponca City because of the two cities' proximity. Ponca City reportedly obtained its first boxcar station by some Ponca City supporters going to Cross and returning with the town's station pulled behind them. He founded the
101 Ranch Oil Company, located on the
Miller Brothers 101 Ranch, and drilled his first successful oil well on land he leased in 1911 from the Ponca tribe of
American Indians. He was elected in 1932 as a U.S. congressman and in 1934 as governor of Oklahoma. Marland's exploitation of oil reserves generated growth and wealth that were previously unimaginable on the Oklahoma prairie, and his company virtually built the city from the ground up. Marland and his associates built mansions to display their new wealth, including the Grand Home and the
E.W. Marland Estate (once called the "Palace on the Prairie"). Because of this period of wealth and affluence, Ponca City has a high concentration of buildings that exemplify the popular
Spanish Colonial Revival architecture of the period, as well as
Art Deco-influenced buildings and homes. The "Roaring '20s" came to an end for Ponca City shortly before the
Great Depression. After a successful takeover bid by
J.P. Morgan, Jr., son of financier
J.P. Morgan,
Marland Oil Co. merged with
Continental Oil Co. in the late 1920s. The city's recent efforts to grow its economy beyond the petroleum industry have attracted a number of technology, manufacturing, and service jobs. In 2005,
ConocoPhillips announced plans to build a $5 million museum across from its Ponca City refinery. Opened to the public in May 2007, the Conoco Museum features artifacts, photographs, and other historical items related to the petroleum industry and its culture in northern Oklahoma. A sister museum, Phillips Petroleum Company Museum, was to be opened in
Bartlesville, Oklahoma. Funded by a private foundation, the Conoco Museum charges no admission fee. In 2012,
ConocoPhillips split into two separate companies, with the upstream portion retaining the
ConocoPhillips name and the refining and transportation portions taking the name
Phillips 66. Based in
Houston,
Texas, Phillips 66 continues to operate a 200,000-barrel-per-day refinery. Phillips 66 | Ponca City Refinery in Ponca City.
Native Americans chief who successfully argued in U.S. District Court in a landmark civil rights case in 1879 that Native Americans are "persons within the meaning of the law" and have the rights of citizenship. Until recently, European Americans' accounts of their settlement and the growth of the oil industry in Ponca City have often overshadowed both the long ancient history of
indigenous peoples in the area, and those tribes who were resettled to Oklahoma in the 19th century under
Indian Removal. Ponca City is named after the
Ponca tribe, part of whom were relocated from
Nebraska to northern Oklahoma from 1877 to 1880. Like all of the forced American Indigenous removals of the 19th century, the Poncas' trek was arduous. Followed by the
United States government's failure to provide adequate supplies and
malaria at their destination, nearly one-third of the Ponca died from illness and exposure. "Out of 700 Ponca who left the Nebraska reservation, 158 died in Oklahoma within two years." The
Ponca protested their conditions. An additional irritant occurred upon the death of
Standing Bear's oldest son in 1879. The chief had promised to bury him in his homeland, and about 60 Ponca accompanied him back to Nebraska. The
U.S. Army was ordered to arrest them for having left the reservation, and they were confined to
Fort Omaha. Most of the tribal members who left eventually returned to the reservation in
Oklahoma. With the aid of prominent attorneys working
pro bono,
Standing Bear filed a writ of
habeas corpus challenging his arrest. The case of
Standing Bear v. Crook (1879) was a landmark decision in the
U.S. District Court, where the judge ruled that Indians had the same legal rights as other
United States citizens. A statue of
Standing Bear was erected in his honor at the intersection of Highway 60 and Standing Bear Parkway in Ponca City. In the late 20th century, the city developed a park and museum named in his honor. In addition to the Standing Bear Museum, the 63-acre park includes more than eight fully developed acres with off street parking, a one-acre pond and a walking trail. The
Ponca Nation, which has kept its headquarters south of Ponca City since 1879, played a major part in the development of the Marland Oil Company and the city. Chief White Eagle leased resource-containing portions of the tribe's allotted land to E.W. Marland in 1911 for oil exploration and development. Since the late 20th century, the
Ponca tribe has worked to build its infrastructure and improve services for its people. In February 2006, the tribe received a grant of more than $800,000 from the
Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of
Minnesota for debt retirement and economic development. Nearby north-central tribes are the
Kaw,
Osage,
Otoe-Missouria,
Pawnee, and
Tonkawa. These are all federally recognized tribes, as is the
Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. In 1994, the six tribes established the Standing Bear Foundation and Pow-wow, beginning the first of annual shared
pow-wows, to which they invite the public. They wanted to build collaboration among the tribes and with the non-Native residents of Ponca City. The pow-wow is now held in Standing Bear Park. ==Geography==