Completed in 1923, the Marland Building helped meet Ponca City’s growing need for retail and office space after the discovery of the Three Sands and Burbank oil fields brought new merchants and business people to the city. E.W. Marland, president of Marland Oil Company and a well known philanthropist, responded to this demand, although his company never had offices in the building. The lower floor was originally leased to Higdon Florists and Piggly Wiggly Grocery Store, while the second story was divided into nine offices rented to small oil companies, real estate and insurance businesses, and doctor’s offices; some of these offices were later converted into apartments. Higdon Florists occupied a large space facing Grand Avenue and opened formally on the evening of March 30, 1923, with an orchestra, birds that supplied music during intermission, a six-foot cement fish pond stocked with goldfish, and an elaborate array of flowers and greenery. In the early 1940s, the florist moved to its own building and the space was divided into two stores. Piggly Wiggly, which faced Fourth Street, held its grand opening on Feb. 8, 1923, and introduced a self service grocery system in which customers selected their own goods with baskets rather than being served by a clerk, reducing labor needs and lowering prices. After the Royalty Building was completed in 1929, Piggly Wiggly moved diagonally across the street. The emblem at the top of the Fourth Street facade is thought to be a variation of the triangular Marland Oil Company logo, overlooking the Marland Service Station that once stood where the Post Office is now. In the late 1940s, the Donahoe family, major real estate investors who at one time owned the Ponca City Milling Company, purchased the building.