Ponca City established its first post office in January 1894, four months after the Land Run and three months after the rival townsite of Cross began receiving mail. Cross, a few miles northwest of Ponca, also had a Santa Fe Railroad stop that Ponca lacked, leading Ponca citizens and merchants to organize a boycott of Cross and pay 10¢ a day to have mail picked up for them instead. Ponca's early post offices occupied various downtown locations, including a combination undertaker and furniture store. Efforts to secure a permanent post office and federal building began in 1919, and by 1925 the project had the backing of the Chamber of Commerce, local businessmen, and oilman Lew Wentz. After years of appropriations and negotiations, including a decision to add a second story for federal court, architects John Duncan Forsyth and Donald McCormick were chosen in 1930. Construction provided an economic boost, using native stone from the Marland quarries, with a weekly payroll of $2000; the building cost $200,000, and the lot cost an additional $50,000. In 1933, a dispute over whether the cornerstone should bear the names of outgoing Republican or incoming Democratic Treasury officials delayed the cornerstone ceremony and led to the removal of the original stone after the replacement was lost in transit. The post office finally opened on March 14, 1934, and the building was expanded to the east in 1967 at a cost of $637,000.