To highlight the 101 Ranch and Wild West Show, formerly of Ponca City, Oklahoma, the Marland Grand Home is hosting a temporary photo exhibit of the operation. The exhibit will be on display in the sunroom of the Marland Grand Home through November of 2022. Many old photos which normally are in storage have been mounted and are ready to view.

The 110,000-acre ranch was in business between the years of 1893 and about 1930. The site located about six miles southwest of Ponca City was established by Colonel George Washington Miller who came to Oklahoma from Kentucky shortly after the Civil War. Miller had been a plantation owner who now had lost his work force after the end of the war. Wanting to relocate to California and start a cattle ranch, Miller made a stop in Baxter Springs, Kansas along the way.

Learning that the Cherokee Strip was about to be open for settlement by the U.S. government, Miller, then living in Winfield, Kansas, came down to explore northern Oklahoma. He was so pleased with what he saw that he changed his plans deciding to settle instead in northern Oklahoma. Miller noted the land there was pristine, had never been grazed or farmed and would make an excellent location for his new ranch operation.

In 1903, when Colonel Miller died, his three sons, Joseph, George Jr., and Zack took over the operations of the ranch and added a wild west show. The show performed hundreds of times on the ranch grounds and also toured the United States and Europe. By 1932 most of the land was owned by the Miller family. They leased other land from the Ponca, Pawnee, and Otoe Indians in Kay, Noble, Osage and Pawnee Counties. The ranch remained in the family for almost 60 years.

The Marland Grand Home is open from Tuesday to Saturday, 10AM to 5PM, closed during the lunch hour. Admission prices are $5 for Adults, $4 for Seniors and $3 for Students ages 7-17. Ponca City Residents are “Free”. For more information see marlandgrandhome. com or call 580-767-0427 directly.