Ponca City, Oklahoma Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cemetery Veterans Monument

Ponca City, Oklahoma Odd Fellows (IOOF) Cemetery Veterans Monument
The monument is a tall doric granite column positioned on a thick rectangular granite slab, on a larger, thin rectangular concrete pad, atop a large, thick rectangular granite base with unfinished exposed sides. The monument rests on an embedded circular concrete pad, which is level with the ground, within a circular grassed area, surrounded by 3 intersecting, curved and curbed concrete roadways. Perched on top of the column is a carved stone American Eagle, with wings displayed and head extended upward, gazing to the sky. The column is incised with replications of the 5 Service Emblems, surrounding the column, near the top, and a dedicatory inscription on the front (east) face, positioned in the upper-middle section. The Service Emblems, beginning on the front face, on the viewing right, and extending clockwise (left) around the column are sequenced: U.S. Army, U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Coast Guard, and U.S. Air Force. The inscription reads: “IN GRATEFUL TRIBUTE TO THE MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED IN THE ARMED FORCES OF OUR COUNTRY”. Immediately behind (west) of the column is a tall flagpole, embedded in a raised rectangular concrete slab. The flagpole flies the American Flag. Further west, across the circling roadway is a mausoleum. (Note: Ponca City is a city in Kay and Osage Counties, in north-central Oklahoma, some 18 miles south of the Kansas border, with a population of some 24,527 (2016). It is the largest city in Kay County and is situated on the Arkansas River. The city was named after the Ponca Indian Tribe, which had been removed from Nebraska and resettled on allotted lands in Indian Territory (Oklahoma) from 1877-1880. The city’s economic development has been largely dependent on the boom and bust periods of the petroleum industry. It was a refining center for many years and the home of Marland Oil Company, and headquarters for Continental Oil Company (Conoco).) (Note: The Independent Order of Odd Fellows (IOOF) is a non-political and non-sectarian international fraternity founded in 1918 in Baltimore, Maryland. The Order became the first Fraternity in the United States to include both men, and women (Rebekahs). It claims a membership of some 600,000 with some 10,000 lodges in some 26 countries.)

Organization Responsible for Installation:

City of Ponca City, Oklahoma & Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

Memorial War Era(s):

  • Vietnam
  • Persian Gulf
  • Panama
  • WWII
  • Other
  • Lebanon/Grenada
  • Korea
  • WWI

Memorial Condition:

Average

Location:

Ponca City, Kay County, Oklahoma 74601, at 1206 S. Waverly Street. Enter the main cemetery entrance off S. Waverly Street. The entrance is easily identifiable by the multi-tiered stone gate structure, bordering a tall white metal Iron Gate with title “Odd Fellows Cemetery FLT,” and a granite open Bible (book) Monument centered on the entrance display. The main entry road into the Cemetery is along Brett Drive, which is accessed by 2 circular roadways leading around the entrance display. Immediately to the south of the entrance display, adjacent to the south circular entry roadway, is an older concrete entrance marker inscribed: “ODD FELLOWS CEMETERY.” The marker is some 4 ½ feet tall and some 3 feet wide, with a low wrought iron fence extending to the south from the marker. The Veterans Monument is located at the west end of Brett Drive at the intersection with 6th Street, in a circular grassed area in the middle of the intersection. A mausoleum in located behind (west) of the monument.