Storybook Land: Aberdeen Honors Its Unexpected Citizen
Near Aberdeen, South Dakota
Aberdeen did not know it had a claim to Oz until long after L. Frank Baum was gone. He lived here just under three years, failed twice, and left quietly in eighteen ninety-one. The connection was reconstructed by scholars decades later.
The city's response is Storybook Land, a public park inside Wylie Park on Aberdeen's northwest side. Expanded over the years, the park places full-scale scenes from The Wizard of Oz alongside fairy-tale tableaux. A yellow-brick road leads visitors through it. Dorothy's farmhouse, the Emerald City gates, and life-size character figures mark the route.
Baum's years here were short, but the Oz connection stuck.
