Ed Galloway Totem Pole Park named as "World’s Largest Concrete Totem Pole". Added to National Register of Historic Places on March 30, 1999.
Link Location Gps ← Find Best directions
Gps Coordinates / 36.4377613,-95.4484595
World Largest Concrete Totem Pole VR Oklahoma
21300 OK-28 A, Chelsea, OK 74016, United States
It previously housed his hand-carved fiddles, handmade furniture, and bas relief portraits of all of the US Presidents up to John F. Kennedy. Many of the items in the Fiddle House were stolen in 1970 and never recovered.
The park also features Galloway's eleven-sided "Fiddle House," which is supported inside and out by 25 concrete totem poles.
Gps Coordinates / 36.4374956,-95.448345
28 tons cement, 100 tons of sand and rock completed in 1948
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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.
Galloway lived at and worked on the park every day up to his death in 1962 of cancer.
Link Location Gps / Gps Link -95.4484894 / Gps Link -95.44823 / Gps Link -95.4485628
Gps Coordinates / 36.4377583,-95.4484894 / 36.43752,-95.44823 / 36.4375,-95.4485628
Upon his retirement in 1937, Galloway moved to a small farm near Foyil, located 10 miles (16 km) north-east of Claremore and 3.5 miles (6 km) east of historic U.S. Route 66
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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.
In 1948, Galloway completed the totem pole, which had a completed height of approximately 90 ft (27 m).
Link Location Gps / Gps Link -95.4485465 / Gps Link -95.4480632 / Gps Link -95.4480636
Gps Coordinates / 36.4374985,-95.4485465 / 36.4377633,-95.4480632 / 36.4375086,-95.4480636
At its base, the totem pole is 30 ft (9 m) wide, and it rests on the back of a turtle, referring to a Native American creation story about the world.
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The entire totem pole is decorated with approximately 200 bas relief images, which include brightly colored Native American portraits, symbols, and animal figures.
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nps.gov/places/ed-galloways-totem-pole-park
