Ponca State Park is a state park of Nebraska, USA, situated among the high bluffs and forested steep hills along the banks of the Missouri River. It is located 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Ponca in northeastern Nebraska. The park is adjacent to the Missouri National Recreational River. Originally created in 1934 from 200 acres (81 ha) of donated land, Ponca State Park and the town of Ponca itself are named after the Ponca tribe, who inhabited the area before European settlement, and whose chief, Standing Bear, won a celebrated court battle to have the Indian declared a "person" under U.S.