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Until recently, European Americans' accounts of their settlement and the growth of the oil industry in Ponca City have often overshadowed both the long ancient history of indigenous peoples in the area, and those tribes who were resettled to Oklahoma in the 19th century under Indian Removal. Ponca City is named after the Ponca tribe, part of whom were relocated from Nebraska to northern Oklahoma from 1877 to 1880.

Like all of the forced American Indigenous removals of the 19th century, the Poncas' trek was arduous. Followed by the United States government's failure to provide adequate supplies and malaria at their destination, nearly one-third of the Ponca died from illness and exposure. "Out of 700 Ponca who left the Nebraska reservation, 158 died in Oklahoma within two years."The Ponca protested their conditions.

An additional irritant occurred upon the death of Standing Bear's oldest son in 1879. The chief had promised to bury him in his homeland, and about 60 Ponca accompanied him back to Nebraska. The U.S. Army was ordered to arrest them for having left the reservation, and they were confined to Fort Omaha.

Most of the tribal members who left eventually returned to the reservation in Oklahoma. With the aid of prominent attorneys working pro bono, Standing Bear filed a writ of habeas corpus challenging his arrest. The case of Standing Bear v. Crook (1879) was a landmark decision in the U.S. District Court, where the judge ruled that Indians had the same legal rights as other United States citizens. A statue of Standing Bear was erected in his honor at the intersection of Highway 60 and Standing Bear Parkway in Ponca City.

In the late 20th century, the city developed a park and museum named in his honor. In addition to the Standing Bear Museum, the 63-acre park includes more than eight fully developed acres with off street parking, a one-acre pond and a walking trail.The Ponca Nation, which has kept its headquarters south of Ponca City since 1879, played a major part in the development of the Marland Oil Company and the city.

Chief White Eagle leased resource-containing portions of the tribe's allotted land to E.W. Marland in 1911 for oil exploration and development.Since the late 20th century, the Ponca tribe has worked to build its infrastructure and improve services for its people. In February 2006, the tribe received a grant of more than $800,000 from the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community of Minnesota for debt retirement and economic development.Nearby north-central tribes are the Kaw, Osage, Otoe-Missouria, Pawnee, and Tonkawa.

These are all federally recognized tribes, as is the Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. In 1994, the six tribes established the Standing Bear Foundation and Pow-wow, beginning the first of annual shared pow-wows, to which they invite the public. They wanted to build collaboration among the tribes and with the non-Native residents of Ponca City.

The pow-wow is now held in Standing Bear Park.