Friday, October 7, 2011

October 5, 2011

Ponca City, OK

Layover day.  No driving, just sightseeing.  Ponca City is like a hidden jewel of interesting spots.  Who ever heard of Ponca City?  We hadn’t.  We asked a friend who has a brother in Oklahoma if he might suggest some things to see.  Much of his suggestions were from the Northeast corner of the state – several in Ponca City.

Ponca City is the birth place of Conoco.  There is a huge refinery here.  A brand new museum was completed a couple of years ago.  Very well done.  We spent over an hour there.  some people spend a whole day.  There is that much information.

Next stop the Marland Estate.  E.W. Marland is an amazing story of nothing to boom to bust to boom to nothing to less than nothing.  Marland was the founder of Marland Oil. At one point he owned more than 10% of the worlds oil fields.  He also was a representative from Oklahoma and the states governor.  His personal life was interesting too.  He and his wife took in her niece and nephew when their parents could not care for them.  They then adopted them.  Now it get a bit strange.  Mrs. Marland became ill and subsequently died.  Marland then had his nieces(daughter) adoption reversed and then married her.  During his boom times Marland was a very generous benefactor and built two residences befitting his status.  The first was a 22 room mansion with grounds and gardens that stretched a quarter mile around the mansion.  The mansion had air conditioning (in one room) and the states first indoor pool.  The pool is located below a large veranda that had large glass tiles in it to allow light to the pool.  The mansion is impressive even by todays standards but pales when compared to what came next.  The estate is amazing.  Huge grounds. A 3/4 mile drive leading to the entrance gate lined with statuary.  Out buildings including gate keeper house, stables,an artists studio, chauffeurs house (two story, four bedroom) and six car garage.  A pool shaped like an inverted ‘T’ of Olympic length in both directions.  Small lakes dotting the grounds with boats and a stone boat house.  At the center of all this is a true castle.  Impossible to properly describe.  EVERYTHING in and about the ‘house’ was the best and then some for 1925.  Every room is a work of architectural and creative art and innovation. No cost was spared.  Ceilings painted in gold and platinum or carved in plaster. Intricate carvings in expensive woods.  Paintings and statuary.  Safes in many rooms.  Most were used to ‘store’ liquor (Oklahoma was a dry state and I guess no one would expect booze to be in a safe.  One large safe was used to store their silverware.  Today, one place setting of their silver would be valued at 20,000-30,000 dollars.  They could seat over 50 people at once.  The castle was completed in the mid ‘20s and cost $5.5 million to build.  I have no concept of what that would be in todays dollars.  It is possible to tour the house and grounds on your own using a printed guide and placards stationed throughout.  For the same price a guided tour is offered.  We did that.  Good move.  Two and a half hours seemed like minutes.  Lots of extra information and antidotes and access to special places, some of them hidden. Fun afternoon.

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View of house that visitors would first see.

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Outline of pool, now filled in

 

 

 

 

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Small portion of carving in ceiling of one room

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Part of room dubbed the Art Room because of the numerous paintings.  Note the floor.

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Close up of floor.  That is not tile.  The brass grid was placed first and each cell was poured with a special concrete mix and then polished.

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Hand painted in place

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The panels of this ceiling were painted flat on fabric in a work room in the basement then brought up to be placed.  Perfect fit and match everywhere.

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First electric bulb sauna in the state, possibly the country.

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The murals on the beams of this ceiling (there are six or seven beams) depict a timeline history of the Native Americans of the area from very early times until the present (time house was built).  The time of the white man is one half of the last beam.

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Statue Marland commissioned  and donated to Ponca City.  It stands at entrance of what was 3/4 mile drive to estate.  It is a tribute to the Pioneer Woman.

We also walked the grounds of the Standing Bear Indian Heritage Museum.  This site is dedicated to informing on the heritage of the six tribes that inhabited the area.

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Standing Bear                   Cool light post



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