E.W. Marland Mansion – Part 9
2014.12.23
Now some complicated and somewhat awkward back story. Ernest and Virginia Marland never had children of their own. Around 1912, Virginia’s sister Margaret and family came out from Pennsylvania to visit. Apparently they were struggling to support four children, and there were discussions of adoption. The two eldest children, George and Lydie, remained with their aunt and uncle (although thanks to E.W.'s oil money, they attended private boarding schools back East). By the time the Marland Grand Home was completed in 1916, Ernest and Virginia had adopted George and Lydie.
Virginia died in 1926 from pneumonia (and probably a relapse of cancer first diagnosed in 1920). Two years later, when the mansion was completed, E.W. took Lydie back to Pennsylvania to have the adoption annulled, and then they were married. So… niece by marriage, adopted daughter, then second wife.
Lydie Marland's Suite
Lydie’s bedroom is French Rococo. The paneled and carved walls are imported basswood (called lime or linden in Britain), and the fireplace is pink Italian marble.
The Rest of the Story
After all the time and money poured into the mansion, they barely had a chance to live there. That same year (1928), E.W. lost control of Marland Oil (soon to become Conoco), and with it his fortune.
When they could no longer afford the utility bills and large staff, E.W. and Lydie moved into the artists studio, while George and his new family moved into the gatekeeper’s lodge for a while. The mansion was only used for occasional parties and meetings. In 1932, E.W. was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives and he and Lydie moved to Washington D.C. In 1934 he became Governor of Oklahoma, so they lived in Oklahoma City.
In 1939 they returned to Ponca City. John Duncan Forsyth, the estate’s original architect, remodeled the chauffeur’s cottage into a somewhat more comfortable small house for them. In 1941, E.W. reluctantly sold the mansion and estate — minus the chauffeur’s cottage — to the Discalced Carmelite Fathers of Mexico for $66,000, a far cry from the $5,500,000 it cost him to build. Separately, he also sold most of the furniture and artwork. E.W. Marland died six months later.
The Carmelite Fathers established a college of philosophy and remained until 1948, when they sold the estate to the Sisters of St. Felix for $50,000. The Felician Sisters set up a nunnery in the mansion, filled in the pool and all but one lake, and built a chapel, administration building, dormitory, and Angela Hall (only the latter building remains).
Lydie lived a quiet life in the cottage. Then in 1953, as the story goes, she loaded her Studebaker with paintings and tapestries and effectively vanished, with occasional sightings. Over the next twenty years, she was found working as a maid in Independence, Missouri, in a bread line in New York City, in an anti-Vietnam War rally in Washington D.C., and later in San Francisco.
George and his family moved to Tulsa, where he continued to work as an oil broker. He died of a heart attack in 1957.
In 1975, a Ponca City lawyer and old friend found Lydie in Washington D.C. and paid for her return to Ponca City. That year, the Felician Sisters announced their intention to sell the estate and move to New Mexico. Lydie Marland urged the citizens of Ponca City to purchase the mansion. With help from Conoco, the city paid $1,400,000 for the mansion, other buildings, and remaining 30 acres of the estate, and opened it to the public. It is now managed by the non-profit Marland Estate Foundation.
Back in Ponca City after 22 years of wandering, Lydie lived in the chauffeur’s cottage until her death in 1987.
Marland VIII