Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park is a park created by American sculptor, woodcarver, and folk artist Ed Galloway. The site consists of eleven sculptures and one building on 14 acres (57,000 m<sup>2</sup>) in Rogers County, in northeastern Oklahoma. The park is north-east of Claremore and is located east of historic U.S. Route 66 and Foyil. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 1999. The park is now owned and operated by the Rogers County Historical Society. The park's main totem pole is billed as the "World’s Largest Concrete Totem Pole."

History and creation

The park was constructed by Ed Galloway (b. 1880 in Springfield, Missouri; d. 1961 in Foyil, Oklahoma). A US Army veteran who had served in the Philippines, he began carving monumental sculptures from tree trunks when he returned to the United States after his military service. In 1914, his work attracted the interest of Tulsa-based philanthropist Charles Page, who employed him as a manual arts teacher at the Children's Home orphanage in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.

Upon his retirement in 1937, Galloway moved to a small farm near Foyil, located north-east of Claremore and east of historic U.S. Route 66. He soon began work on a totem pole, which he built using modern building materials, including six tons of steel, 28 tons of cement, and 100 tons of sand and rock. The entire totem pole is decorated with approximately 200 bas relief images, which include brightly colored Native American portraits, symbols, and animal figures. The park also contains four smaller concrete totems, two ornate concrete picnic tables with animal-form seats, a barbecue, and four sets of animal-form gateposts.

Galloway lived at and worked on the park every day up to his death in 1962 of cancer. Some say that he hoped to use his work to educate young people about Native Americans, but others say that he thought the park would be a good place for youngsters, Boy Scouts in particular, to visit.

Renovation

In the decades following Galloway's death, the sculptures began to deteriorate from weather and neglect. In the 1990s, the Kansas Grassroots Art Association led an extensive restoration effort. Work on the upper section was begun in mid-June 2015,

References

  • Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park - Rogers County Historical Society
  • Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park - Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park
  • National Park Service page on Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park
  • Roadside American Report on Ed Galloway's Totem Pole Park
  • Totem Pole Park info, photos and video on TravelOK.com - Official travel and tourism website for the State of Oklahoma