The home of Governor E.W. Marland is architectural wonder. It was designed and constructed as a showplace for pieces of fine art and in the process, it became a masterpiece in its own right. As you tour through this site tour guides will tell you the fascinating story of E. W. and Lydie Marland. It’s a story of riches to rags that will keep your attention during the entire 90 minute tour.
The Mansion itself took three years to construct, 1925 to 1928. The mansion is 78 feet wide and 184 feet long, and contains 43,561 square feet distributed over four levels. There are 55 rooms, including 10 bedrooms, 12 bathrooms, 7 fireplaces, and 3 kitchens. It takes 861 light bulbs to light the mansion.
Although the Marlands only live in the mansion for a few short years, they retained ownership while E. W. served in Congress and as Governor of Oklahoma. Six months before he died, Mr. Marland sold the complex to an order of monks, the Discalced Carmelite Fathers. He kept the chauffeur's cottage and the surrounding land and left them to Lydie in his will. The Carmelite Fathers established a college of philosophy at the mansion in 1941 and were cloistered there until 1948 when they sold the Sisters of St. Felix for $50,000.
After Mr. Marland’s death in 1941, Lydie continued to live a cottage on the property. She lived a quiet, reclusive life and some people even thought she had died. Then, in 1953, she loaded her Studebaker with paintings and tapestries and left Ponca City, not to be seen again locally for 22 years. For most of that time, very few people knew where she was and once again, some even thought she had died. The Saturday Evening Post ran an article entitled “Where is Lyde Marland?” However, while she was gone, she was in touch with her attorney and continued to pay taxes on the little cottage and property that Marland had left to her in his will. She lived on the west coast for a while and in New York City near Central Park. In the 1960’s, during the unrest that surround the Vietnamese War and civil rights, she participated in peace marches in Washington, D.C.
In 1975, the Felician Sisters announced that they were planning to sell the mansion and surrounding property and move to New Mexico. Conoco offered to pay half of the purchase price if the City of Ponca City would pay the other half. A one-cent sales tax was proposed by the city to fund their part.
Lydie Marland who had vanished from the property years earlier returned to Ponca City during this time and wrote a letter to the citizens, asking them to support the sales tax and save the mansion. The sales tax issue did pass, and the City of Ponca City became the owner of the Marland Estate, including the mansion and all the other buildings on the 30 acre complex. The total purchase price was $1.4 million.
Today, The Palace on the Prairie is maintained as a museum and is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and on Sundays from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.
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