Hidden · Bartlesville, Oklahoma, United States
Woolaroc
An oilman's ranch retreat in the Osage Hills that became a Western art museum, a bison and elk preserve, and home to the only surviving plane from a famous race.
Woods, lakes and rocks, with a museum in the middle.
Woolaroc is a museum and wildlife preserve in the Osage Hills of northeastern Oklahoma, about 12 miles southwest of Bartlesville and 45 miles north of Tulsa. Oilman Frank Phillips established it in 1925 as his ranch retreat. The name blends woods, lakes and rocks, the features of the hills around it. It was first meant for the ranch house, then came to name the whole ranch.
The ranch is a 3,700-acre preserve with more than 30 species of native and exotic wildlife, including bison, elk and longhorn cattle. There is also a nature trail and a living history area that recreates a mountain man camp of the 1840s. Bicycles are not allowed in the preserve.
A hangar that grew into a museum.
The museum began in 1929 as a hangar for Woolaroc, a single-engine Travel Air 5000 airplane that Phillips sponsored in the 1927 Dole Air Race from Oakland, California, to Honolulu. It is the only plane from that race that survives. Over the years Phillips kept receiving gifts and buying art, and the museum grew room by room. Today it covers 50,000 square feet and holds more than 600 paintings, 300 bronzes and over 2,300 pieces of Native American art and artifacts, plus one of the largest collections of Colt firearms in the world.
Among its most unusual pieces are twelve small sculptures made as models for the Pioneer Woman statue in Ponca City. A national vote picked Bryant Baker's model, and the finished statue was unveiled in 1930. Phillips later acquired the twelve models, and they are on display at Woolaroc.
The Frank Phillips Foundation, founded in 1937, owns and runs Woolaroc. The Phillips couple donated the grounds, facilities, animals, collections and art to it in 1944 so that it would be kept going and preserved. The Woolaroc Ranch Historic District was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on December 5, 2008.
The preserve and the museum.
Practical notes.
Before you go.
What does Woolaroc mean?
The name combines woods, lakes and rocks, the features of the Osage Hills where the ranch sits. It was first meant for the ranch house and then named the whole ranch.
What is the famous airplane at Woolaroc?
A Travel Air 5000 called Woolaroc, which Frank Phillips sponsored in the 1927 Dole Air Race from Oakland to Honolulu. It is the only plane from that race that still survives.
What animals live at Woolaroc?
The 3,700-acre preserve is home to more than 30 species of native and exotic wildlife, including bison, elk and longhorn cattle.
Who runs Woolaroc?
The Frank Phillips Foundation, founded in 1937 by Frank and Jane Phillips. They donated the grounds, collections and animals to it in 1944.
Around Oklahoma
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