Story by Kelsey Wagner / Ponca City Monthly Editor-in-Chief Historic photos provided by Lori Henderson
The 1900s Population: 2,521
Ponca City’s downtown was founded after the historic Cherokee Strip Land Run in 1893, the fourth and most massive government land resettlement. The run resulted in one of the largest land grabs in the country’s history. Winning landowners established farms and communities in the land still known at that time as Indian Territory, years before Oklahoma’s statehood. Four days after the run, after surveyors had selected locations for streets and lots, a box was placed on Grand Ave between 3rd and 4th street, and those who had purchased certificates for city lots lined up to receive their assigned lots. What followed for Ponca City’s downtown was the beginning of a boom and bust cycle, which was very much in play for a century, in a state and a town where the oil industry dictates so much of the economic condition. Ponca City, home to oil tycoon E.W. Marland and founder of Marland Oil Company, was particularly dependent because of the large number of jobs tied to the one company.
By the turn of the century, the new municipal government had formed, and many new businesses and professional services were established to serve the city residents. However, a devastating fire occurred in 1900. It burned several of the first buildings constructed of frame and locally mined stone, including the first iteration of the Pabst saloon building, which was later rebuilt with brick. Many businesses chose to rebuild with more permanent, solid materials. The first big boom for downtown Ponca City began around 1905 after discovering natural gas led many, including E.W. Marland, to the city in search of more buried energy sources. Already a bustling center for trade, a sly move by city founder B.S. Barnes moving the Santé Fe train depot from Cross to downtown Ponca City fully cemented Ponca City’s dominance as the center of commerce for Kay County. The railroad, which ran just west of downtown, was crucial to downtown Ponca City’s success as a means to import and export goods. The Arcade Hotel was also initially located in the town of Cross and relocated in 1897 to its new location in downtown Ponca City. Many of the very first large stone and brick buildings were built in downtown Ponca City, including The Donahoe Bothers/JP Souligny Building (1909), the Old United States Post Office, 311 E Grand, (1911) and the Municipal Complex, 500 E. Grand (1917).
The 1920s Population: 7,051
The roaring 1920’s swept into downtown Ponca City as money poured into the city from new oil wells. The population of Ponca City doubled in size during the oil boom and along with that, so did the increase in building permits. In 1923, the Royalty office building, 401 E Grand, was financed by E. W. Marland and designed by John Duncan Forsyth. Forsyth would go on to design Marland’s Palace on the Prairie, the Marland Mansion, which began construction in 1925 but was not completed until 1928. Between 1918 and 1929, over 25 new downtown buildings were built. Notable buildings constructed during that time were Gill’s Mortuary Building, 122 N. 2nd (1924), Union Bus Station, 201 N. 2nd (1926), the Ponca City News Building (1924), Community Building, located at 223 E. Grand (1925) Masonic Building, 222 E. Grand, Poncan Theatre (1927), Paris Furniture Building, 409 E. Grand (1927), Marland Building 322-324 E. Grand (1928) and the Nonnamaker Building, 205 W. Grand (1929).
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September 2020
