Pioneer Woman, Bronze statue in Ponca City, Oklahoma, United States.
Pioneer Woman is a bronze sculpture group in Ponca City, Oklahoma, by Bryant Baker, dedicated in 1930. It shows a taller woman in a collared, buttoned bodice and long full skirt, one hand holding gathered fabric, beside a shorter boy in a cap, collared shirt, trousers and boots, his hands raised near his chest. Both face forward on a rough dark stone base.
Ernest Whitworth Marland commissioned the monument in 1930 after 750,000 people voted in a competition for Bryant Baker's design. The project emerged during the economic depression to remember the settlers of the territorial period.
The figure honors the women who settled Oklahoma during the late 19th century land distributions and built homes and communities there. Her name refers to the pioneering women who often traveled long distances with few belongings and raised families under difficult conditions.
The monument stands outdoors in Ponca City and can be viewed from the surrounding grounds at any time; no museum or visitor facilities are attached to it. The bronze group rests on a rough dark stone base, so the figures are best seen from the front, where both faces and the woman's gathered skirt are visible.
The bronze figure weighs around 5,400 kilograms and reaches about 5.2 meters (17 feet) in height, making it one of the largest monuments dedicated to pioneer women. Baker created the model in his New York studio before it was cast at a foundry in California.
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