PONCA CITY

city, Kay county, northern Oklahoma, U.S. It lies along the Arkansas River, near the Kansas border. Founded overnight in 1893 with the opening of the Cherokee Strip, it was named for the Ponca Indians, who moved in 1879 to a reservation south of the townsite. Surrounded by farm and ranch lands, the city boomed with the oil discoveries of the 1920s. Its diversified industries include oil refining, manufacture of petrochemicals and metal products, and servicing of diesel engines. Its "Pioneer Woman" statue, honouring the courage of the women who helped settle the West, is at the Pioneer Woman Museum. Kaw Lake, immediately northeast, is a major reservoir on the Arkansas River. Inc. village, 1895; city, 1899. Pop. (1990) 26,359.