E. W. Marland - Pioneer Woman Statue

Pioneer Woman Statue

In the early 1920s while riding high with his wealth, Marland decided to commission a statue commemorating the Pioneer Woman for installation in Ponca City. Marland was asked, "E. W., why don't you have sculptor Jo Davidson make a statue to the vanishing American, a Ponca, Otoe, or an Osage – a monument of great size?" Marland answered, "The Indian is not the vanishing American – it's the pioneer woman."

Marland commissioned twelve miniature 3-foot (0.91 m) sculptures by US and international sculptors as models for the Pioneer Woman statue. The commission that Marland paid each sculptor has been variously cited as $10,000 and as $2,000 for each submission. The miniatures were shipped for exhibit in twelve cities, where they were viewed by a total of 750,000 people who cast votes for their favorite.

The twelve submissions included "Protective" by John Gregory; "Determined" by Maurice Sterne; "Challenging" by Hermon Atkins MacNeil; "Affectionate" by James E. Fraser; "Self-Reliant" by Alexander Stirling Calder; "Fearless" by Wheeler Williams; "Heroic" by Mario Korbel; "Adventurous" by F. Lynn Jenkins; "Sturdy" by Mahonri Young and "Faithful" by Arthur Lee; "Trusting" by Jo Davidson; and "Confident" by Bryant Baker. The New York Times reported on March 27, 1927 that the exhibition had arrived in New York City and that it had attracted "more interest than any exhibition of sculpture New York has known in a long while." After being exhibited for three weeks in the Reinhardt Galleries, Bryant Baker's model won first place in the New York balloting. The Times reported that "Baker not only won first honors, but was the last man to enter the contest having no more than a month to prepare his model and obtain a casting."

Marland said,

"I believe all of the sculptors have done well. We could select any one of the twelve figures and get an excellent interpretation of the frontier woman. The decision will be a hard one to make. I expect to be guided largely by public taste, but the final decision will be my own. This national vote is going to show exactly what the American people think about one of the greatest of their women," Marland added.

The exhibition touched a popular chord in American culture of the time. The New York Times reported on March 27, 1927 that among the visitors was 91 year old Betty Wollman who as a young bride had journeyed from St. Louis to Leavenworth, Kansas in 1855. She had once entertained Abraham Lincoln as a dinner guest in the Wollman household, long before he was a candidate for President. Wollman spoke about women's role during pioneer days in the Old West and congratulated Marland for his proposal to erect a statue in her honor.

The winning statue nationwide was Confident, which featured a woman and her son, by the British-born American sculptor Bryant Baker. Marland's personal favorite was said to be Trusting by Jo Davidson, who had already sculpted statues of Marland and his adopted children: George and Lydie.

On April 22, 1930, at a reception for 40,000 guests, Baker's sculpture was unveiled in Ponca City in a public ceremony; the guest speaker was Will Rogers, who paid tribute to Oklahoma's pioneers. President Herbert Hoover addressed the nation in a radio broadcast to commemorate the statue. He said,

"It was those women who carried the refinement, the moral character and spiritual force into the West."

The finished statue of the Pioneer Woman was 27 feet (8.2 m) high and weighed 12,000 pounds.