Pioneer Woman

The public chose this statue by vote. In 1926 the oilman E. W. Marland launched a competition for a monument to the pioneer woman, and 12 sculptors were invited to submit models. The Oklahoma Historical Society says the models toured cities including New York, Chicago, Dallas and Ponca City, with the public voting at every stop. More than 750,000 votes were cast, and English-born sculptor Bryant Baker's model won.

The finished bronze shows a woman with a Bible under her arm leading her young son forward. The Historical Society gives it as 17 feet tall and 12,000 pounds, on a pyramidal stone base that brings the whole monument to 40 feet. According to 405 Magazine, it cost $300,000 and no one posed for it; the magazine quotes Baker saying the figure grew from stories he read as a boy. The Society and the magazine give the model's title differently, as "Confidence" and "Confident".