Bartlesville OK

Woolaroc is a 3,700 acre wildlife preserve located in the Osage Hills of Northeastern Oklahoma about 12 miles southwest of Bartlesville. The name stands for Woods + Lakes + Rocks. Plus, there are bison, emus, llamas, longhorn cattle, and a lovely playground for children. Woolaroc is also a museum with an outstanding collection of western art and artifacts. Much of the museum materials were collected by Frank Phillips, founder of Phillips Petroleum Company and benefactor of the schools I attended. My other mother Lilburn Hettick first took me there in 1961; it was a great pleasure to return there on September 25 with her daughter, my friend Marjo.

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In this album are 34 more photos from the Museum. One exhibit reminded me of visiting Ponca City, Oklahoma in the 1950s with my Mom and Dad and brother Harry. Dad particularly wanted me to see the statue of the Pioneer Woman. I think he thought her a good role model for his daughter. There was a nationwide contest to choose a sculpture to represent a pioneer woman; the exhibit showed all the entries. It was clear to me why voters chose this one by Bryant Baker. The statue, dedicated in 1930, is in a public park in Ponca City.

From Woolaroc, we drove to Bartlesville, where we had reserved a room at Price Tower, a spectacular building of copper and concrete designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The tower was built for Harold C. Price as a corporate headquarters for his pipeline construction company. Mr. Price had originally thought of a rather modest rectangular building a few stories high, but Wright convinced him that it would be more economic and efficient to build up rather than out. Read more about the fascinating history of this building here.  

The Tower is in a park that includes the Bartlesville Community Center and a fountain with an iconic 66.

Inside, our room was spacious and interesting. The shower even had a window to the outside. We liked the Best Westerns in other cities where we stayed, but this place was an aesthetic treat.

Some wags who worked for the Phillips Petroleum Company in Phillips, like my Dad, referred to Bartlesville, the company headquarters, as Mecca and pretended to bow to the East five times a day. This trip took me to Mecca!

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