Paris Furniture Store Family
The 1940s brought a new and different era to the Marland Grand Home. The Dan Moran family of CONOCO Oil Company fame had moved out, and the Paris furniture family had moved into the home. J.G. and Jessie Paris owned and operated a large furniture store on Grand Avenue. The Paris Furniture Company began in 1922 moving to a more recent Grand Avenue address in 1927. Providing the Paris family their new, large Spanish Colonial furniture store building downtown was E.W. Marland, coincidentally the original builder of the now Paris home. The store building was designed by John Duncan Forsyth and patterned after Marshall-Fields of Chicago. Forsyth was also the architect of Marland's second mansion in Ponca City, "The Refuge" located at 901 Monument.
Jay Paris and his brother, Glen, ran the family furniture business employing twelve salesmen, one of which was Stan Dunham, President Barrack Obama's maternal grandfather. Jessie Paris also helped to establish the business and had a reputation of being an efficient and organized business woman. Jay and Jessie Paris had one daughter named Patricia Ladd Paris, "Pat," who was raised in the home.
The Paris family also owned and operated a ranch in Osage County. Jay Paris purchased a special horse named "Duke" for his daughter Pat. Duke was a circus horse bought by Mr. Paris for his daughter, Pat. Duke was trained to stop if his rider fell off; therefore, Mr. Paris felt he would be a safer animal for his daughter to ride. The horse was kept at the ranch, but brought to town for special occasions like parades and to pull the family carriage, which could be converted for snow in the winter by applying runners in place of the wheels. It was kept in the carriage house on the west end of the property. Above the carriage house was an apartment with living space, a bedroom, kitchen, and bath. During the years of the WWII DARR flight school in Ponca City, some of the British soldiers who were in training locally lived in this apartment.
Supporting the community and carrying on another Marland tradition, Jay Paris was active in the local Lion's Club, an organization that E.W. Marland had been the first president of in the 1920s. Jessie Paris participated in the local PEO and 20th Century women's clubs. No doubt all three organizations met in the Paris home on occasion. "The home was an open come and go type place," recalls Pat. "Many people enjoyed coming over and spending time there."
After the family moved into the home they added many fine furnishings, particularly several antique pieces which they had acquired through their business. The European Chippendale-styled dining room furniture collection, still at the home today, is exquisite. It fills in the formal dining space. The present office area of the home was used as an informal dining and breakfast space. At the time there had been no bathroom on the 1st floor, so one was added utilizing space taken out of a next door powder room which held only a fainting couch and laundry chute.
The Paris family enjoyed the sunroom as much as the Marland family did in the 1920s. Pat wrote her name on the back side of the north set of sunroom's French doors unbeknownst to her parents. The name "PAT" is still there today as a nostalgic reminder of the family's occupation. Pat hosted many sleepovers and swimming parties at the house. She recalls one of her best friends, Pat Purdue (Evans), accompanying her on most of her girlfriend adventures. "My friends and I would dance out on the terrace during our sleepovers," said Pat.
Dancing on the terrace was also one of E.W. Marland's adopted niece Lydie's favorite activities in the 1920s.
Pat occupied the upstairs southeast corner enclosed sitting porch as her bedroom, instead of the adjoining true bedroom space. This porch room had large glass/screened windows, which could be opened to catch a breeze. It was much cooler than the traditional bedroom space, and it was also connected to a bath. Pat shared this bath space with her parents, whose northeast corner bedroom was also connected to the same bath. Despite the size of the large twenty-two room home, all three members of the Paris family used the same upstairs bathroom. The home had five bathrooms in total, two in the basement, two on the second floor, and one on the third floor. An additional first floor powder room bath was added later, by the Paris family, to accommodate first floor needs.
Many times, during the hot summer months, the Paris family members would sleep on cots on the top of the west-side garage flat roof. To access this area, one would climb out the large west enclosed glass porch windows and then step through the screens. "The west flat roof, over the attached garage, was used for sleeping at night instead of the east-side ground floor terrace. If sleeping on the east terrace, one would be greeted earlier than desired by the upcoming sun," stated Pat Paris Moore
The third floor south-side space included two small bedrooms and a central shared bath space in between. This upper area was most likely house staff quarters during the 1920s era. The third floor north-side space was the walk-in attic. In the 1940's, the Dodgers farm club hosted a team which played in Ponca City. One of the players, Dale Hendricks, lived with the Paris family in one of the third floor rooms. The Dodgers team often swam in the basement pool for refreshment.
The swimming pool was used regularly by many guests. Pat remembers the water in the pool being very cold, due to the water heater in the boiler room not functioning properly. "The warmest temperature the water ever reached was right after the pool was refilled," laughed Pat. Pat and her friends, along with her father, would drain the pool, get in the empty cavern and scrub all the walls and floor until they were clean. In those days, the pool was not chlorinated as adequately as in today's standard for sanitation, so the pool was cleaned on a regular basis and then refilled. The pool had a diving board and a trapeze, which hung over the pool, both of which hurled guests into its depths for fun.
The pool room had a dressing space, a shower, and a sink for guests to use. Adjoining the swimming pool was the larger dressing room space, which included a bathroom and four small stalls for changing into swim suits. "The larger dressing room area was also used to store the horse saddles, so it always smelled of leather," said Pat.
Also in the basement area downstairs were two Ping-Pong tables stationed in the center room. The west room, as today, was the billiard table and bar. The east room mirrored the west room and was basically unused space. The family dog was a St. Bernard. Pat and her dad would bring the dog into the basement area, via the southwest outside descending stairwell, where there was a bathroom with bathtub. "This is where my dog, Tuffy, participated in his bath routine," recalls Pat fondly. Other wildlife kept in the basement area included a small flock of baby turkeys, which Jessie Paris kept until they were too large to stay.
changes in store
Pat Paris married Bob Casey, and they had four children, Kelle, Mitch, Jay, and Hal. Jay Paris passed away in 1963 at an early age. He had been named Ponca City's "Most Useful Citizen." Jessie Paris remained at the home for approximately eight more years and then moved into the Pioneer Apartments on Monument Road close to the Pioneer Woman Museum.
welcoming a new phase
In 1967 the City of Ponca City purchased the 3.36 acre property from Jessie Paris for $85,000. The Marland-Paris House soon became listed on the National Register of Historic Places and became a collection space for fine American Indian artifacts and artwork that had previously been on display in the Indian Museum, located in the basement of the Ponca City Library. The library had become too small for the growing collection, so the Marland-Paris House was to make an ideal new location for the collection. When Jessie Paris moved out of the home in the late 1960s, their family's ornate music box, nostalgic rattan furniture, a hand-carved desk, Chippendale dining room suit, two crystal chandeliers and several mahogany tables remained in the home and were purchased by the City of Ponca City. The site was now poised to become a Ponca City landmark which would serve the community well for the next 50 years.
ponca city cultural center & indian museum
In the late 1960s the Garden Clubs of Ponca City began a movement to purchase the Paris property, not only for their headquarters, but primarily to provide space for the Indian Museum artifacts which had out-grown their library location and needed to be moved. A letter dated Dec. 1, 1966 to the Oklahoma State Historical Society from Ponca City citizen, Della Castor, stated that it was the hope of many in Ponca City to purchase the Paris home to expand the current Indian Museum and include both oil history and Marland materials. In addition to creating more space for the museum, the purchase would also provide a public place for receptions, dance and music recitals, workshops, painting classes, theater activities, art exhibitions and flower shows. Some even suggested opening the basement pool and dressing stalls to create a spa-like setting close to downtown where visitors could exercise. In 1967 Mrs. Jessie Paris sold her 22-room mansion to the City of Ponca City for $85,000. At the time the site was still known as the original Marland Mansion. Robert Clark, former employee of Marland Oil, H.A. Mertz, Commissioner of Public Property, Harry Hayman, Commissioner of Finance, and Mayor C.D. Hull were instrumental in the City's acquisition of the property. Going forward, the City Commission chose to name the property the "Ponca City Cultural Center and Indian Museum." "It is the plan of the commissioners and other groups to develop the Jessie Paris property into a cultural center for the greatest benefit to the citizens of Ponca City and as a tourist attraction in our community," stated Mayor C.D. Hull.
Maxine Luntz was hired as the manager, and Delia Castor was hired as the curator. The Cultural Center, which would soon house four separate museums, two libraries, and meeting space for clubs and social events, was dedicated on May 26, 1968. It was determined that since the citizens helped to purchase the property through tax dollars, there would be no entrance fees for Ponca City citizens into the museum spaces.
During the ceremony great tribute was paid to E.W. Marland for his many contributions to the betterment of the community. The citizens took note of the many things that Marland brought to the Ponca City and left for posterity such as: two golf courses, horseback riding, fox hunting, polo, the Pioneer Woman Statue, the hospital, the Marland Industrial Institute, the Big House located at 901 Monument Drive, the American Legion Children's Home, as well as being the first president of the Lion's Club.
Wesley I. Nunn gave the open address. Nunn, a former Marland Oil and then CONOCO employee and personal friend of E.W. Marland, stated, "You are here today to pay tribute to an outstanding citizen and to dedicate his first fine Ponca City home to a future of greatness as your Indian Museum and Cultural Center." Nunn went on to say, "E.W. Marland was at least 25 years ahead of his time…especially in employee relations and community relations.
The prosperity of the 1920s, thought then to be perpetual, made that a decade of ten wonderful years! Oh, how all of us then would have liked to just go on that way forever!" In closing Nunn stated, "I hope the value of this wonderful new Cultural Center and Indian Museum will continue to increase. This is one of the very finest things the people of Ponca City have ever done. Congratulations!"
indian museum
The first collector of Indian artifacts was E.W. Marland himself. His findings began in 1926 with the excavation of a French trading site, known then as the Deer Creek site, which was located north of Ponca City along the Arkansas River. Marland had planned for a local museum and also commissioned Henry Balink to do paintings of Indian chiefs to hang on its walls. In 1938, the E.E. Thompson collection was added to the Marland items. Thompson was an honorary chief of the Kaw Tribe.
The Indian Museum (as it was called at the time) was originally opened at the Ponca City Library in 1939. Over the years, other artifacts were donated by the Bartram, Burkhart, Hoefer, Baker, Brett and Milde families as well as others. Generous gifts from Fred Bartram, a one-time Indian agent and teacher, included Northwestern and Southwestern baskets and pottery. Lillie Morrill Burkhart added fine Osage clothing and articles. John Hofer of Kaw City gave moccasins gathered by Hoefer's brother, then an officer at Fort Sill. Baker donated projectile points and ancient Indian tools.
After thirty years of being housed in the basement of the Ponca City Library, the Indian Museum was moved to the second floor of the new Cultural Center. The rooms to be used for the displays had been two large bedrooms and the swimming pool dressing area of the home.
archeological display
Sherman-Lawton was president of the Oklahoma Anthropological Society for many years. At his death his personal collection was given to the Kay Country Anthropological Society, which in turn placed some of the items in the Indian Museum. These pre-Columbian artifacts and Indian tools and projectiles points were put on display along with items from the 1926 Marland excavation. Dr. Joseph Thoburn of the University of Oklahoma and the Oklahoma Anthropological Survey led the Marland excavation with help from his college crew. One third of the dig items went to the Ponca City Indian Museum, one-third to Chilocco Indian School in Northern Oklahoma, and one-third the Oklahoma Historical Society.
The Ponca City Garden Center was located within the Cultural Center and housed a library and office in two small adjoining rooms on the second floor. This area was furnished by the sixteen garden clubs in town, and the library contained over two hundred volumes relating to horticulture, landscaping, and flower arraigning. An educational librarian assisted visitors with book loans. Historic photos of Marland's original gardens lined the walls in tribute to his contributions to the early day Ponca City. The Garden Center was open every afternoon from 1:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m., with a hostess available to the public.
library and music club
The library was the area where guests were greeted as they entered the home. Mrs. E.W. (Virginia) Marland was a charter member of the Music Club and held many meetings in this home during the early 1920s. A portion of the downstairs library room was dedicated to the Music Club, and it displayed pictures and other items of Frances Smith Catron, "Ponca City's First Lady of Music." Catron taught music in the Ponca City School System for thirty-seven years and directed many plays and musical activities. She was also a member of the Twentieth Century Club and the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), both which continued to meet in the home on a regular basis.
Through the years, the site added artifacts and items as they pertained to the resident exhibits. Monthly meetings of the DAR, Music Club, Twentieth Century Club, American Association of University Women, and bridge groups were held, as well as musical recitals, showers, coffees, receptions, reunions, and workshops groups. The Cultural Center was ready for growth and expansion into the second half of the twentieth century in order to help support and provide service to the community.
​(580) 767-0427 ◦ 1000 East Grand Avenue ◦ Ponca City, Oklahoma 74601