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The Jens-Marie was a Mecca for the men in the
oil industry during the boom era when Kay County was a hot bed of Oil
Fields. Many an oil deal and trade was made there on the premises.
Four men, partners in the Jens-Marie Oil Company, constructed the
building. They were James J. Young, Dennis E. Mooney, James M. VanWinkle
and Henry Bucker. The hotel got its name from the oil company who, in
turn, had gotten its name from the first names of a couple on whose farm,
the firm had drilling operations and oil wells, Jens and Marie
Christensen.When the men decided to build the hotel, they
had no name for it. Building materials and pre-fabricated units for the
hotel were shipped in the name of Jens-Marie Oil Company. Arriving in
Ponca City, they were deposited on the hotel site, earlier a flourishing
potato patch.
Workmen, asked what all the materials were for, answered "The
Jens-Marie," meaning the oil company. From then on there was no
problem in naming the hotel - it was the Jens-Marie and remained so until
May, 1974, when it changed hands and was renamed the Grand Hotel. However,
the name reverted to the Jens-Marie when the property went to receivership
10 months later.
Since Kay County was the center of oil drilling operations in Oklahoma
during the late 1920's, it was only natural that the new six-story
125-room brick hotel became the oil dealing center of the state at that
time.
Besides the proximity of the fortune-making "black gold" the
hotel, opening in February 1924, boasted the frequent presence of such oil
personalities as Lew Wentz, E.W. Marland, Bill McFadden, Frank Phillips,
and others. Although these men did not inhabit living quarters in the
hotel, they often could be found in the dining room, coffee shop, or lobby
talking oil and making deals.
Ponca City was the center of northern Oklahoma as far as oil producing
and refining were concerned. The Marland interests brought visitors in and
they would stay at the Jens-Marie.
People selling things to the oil people would stay there. In those days
there a number of oil well suppliers and they had warehouses here. It was
a busy place, people coming and people going. That was the time when there
was oil production on all four sides of Ponca City.
During the boom days from 1922 to 1930 the population of Ponca City
doubled from around 10,000 to 20,000. Marland enlarged the refinery and
the South side and Donahue Addition were built.
The Ponca City Downtown Inc., a corporation of local businessmen, purchased
the Jens-Marie property at a sheriff's auction in October, 1975 for
$79,000. The property had gone to receivership in March of 1975. There has
been no announcement concerning its
At 12:00 p.m., on Sunday, August 15, 1976, the Jens-Marie Hotel doors
were padlocked and the colorful history of the hotel was brought to a
close.
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NOTE:
This site is provided by the Ponca City Publishing