Local and Regional Sites

In and around Pawnee, Oklahoma, notable historic and cultural sites include the Pawnee Agency and Boarding School Historic District on about 29 acres of the 726-acre Pawnee Tribal Reserve, where former school buildings and dormitories now serve as tribal offices and the tribal college; the Pawnee Bill Mausoleum at Highland Cemetery, the final resting place of Gordon W. Lillie, May Lillie, and Billy Lillie, built in December 1925 after Billy Lillie's death; the Pawnee Steam and Gas Engine Grounds, home to the annual Oklahoma Steam Threshing & Gas Engine Show, which for over 50 years has featured steam traction engines, a sawmill, gas engines, a blacksmith shop, tractors, and more on the first weekend in May; the Museum of the Pawnee Nation, which collects, preserves, shares, and interprets Pawnee history, arts, and culture through artifacts and works by local Pawnee artists; the Dick Tracy Mural at 6th Street and Harrison, created by Tulsa artist Ed Melberg in 1990 in Chester Gould's hometown as a tribute to the native cartoon artist; the 1939 WPA sandstone Pawnee Bathhouse and Lake, overlooking a two-acre freshwater pool with a sandy beach, water slide, high dive, and stone steps and walls leading to the swimming area; the Forgotten Oklahoma Museum in a 1902 sandstone bank building once owned by Pawnee Bill and now also housing the Pawnee Tag Agency; the Buffalo Theatre, opened in 1921 and still operating with films, live entertainment, and goods; and the Pawnee County Historical Society, home to the Dick Tracy Museum and the Pawnee County Museum, which trace Pawnee's growth from exploration to settlement and development through education, arts, agriculture, trade, and transportation and present the life of Chester Gould. Nearby Oklahoma Historical Society sites include the Cherokee Strip Museum and Rose Hill School in Perry, whose exhibits portray life from the opening of the Cherokee Strip in 1893 to the 1930s; the White Hair Memorial learning center in Hominy, located in the former home of Lillie Morrell Burkhart and holding Osage artifacts and documents; the Fred and Addie Drummond Home in Hominy, a late Victorian house built in 1905 by a family that developed a major trading and ranching operation; the Pioneer Woman Museum near Ponca City, dedicated on September 16, 1958, to preserve the legacy of women who contributed to Oklahoma's development; and OKPOP in Tulsa's Arts District, the Oklahoma Museum of Popular Culture, featuring stories from movies, radio, television, illustration, literature, theater, wild west shows, and Route 66.

Pawnee, Oklahoma · United States