OK SR32

Oklahoma State Senate recognizes the 85th anniversary of the unveiling of the Pioneer Woman Statue in Ponca City, celebrated on April 22, 2015.

The 30-foot-tall statue was designed by London-born sculptor Bryant Baker and unveiled on April 22, 1930, depicting a young mother confidently leading her son with a Bible in hand.

Governor Ernest Whitworth Marland commissioned twelve statue designs in October 1926 through a contest to create a monument memorializing the disappearing West, with Baker's design selected as the winner.

The statue was erected and dedicated to all pioneer women in appreciation of their heroic character and for enduring the dangers and hardships of pioneer and homestead life.

Copies of the resolution shall be distributed to Oklahoma Historical Society Executive Director Dr. Bob Blackburn and Ponca City Mayor Homer Nicholson.