Field Guide to Coronado History: Oz

Another in a regular series of fascinating, intriguing, or thoughtful tales about people and places in Nado history -- presented by your Coronado Historical Association

Ever wonder what an “Oz” is?  Or where the vision for “The Emerald City” came from?  We did, especially as L. Frank Baum never said for sure.

We know it, of course, as the magical oasis surrounded by impassible deserts from Baum’s many books or as a dream world as depicted in film.  But where did L. Frank Baum come up with the word that described his “Wonderful World?” 

Many believe that “The Emerald City” idea came from the White City of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago (where Baum, at the time, was living) especially with its displays of stunning architecture and newly invented searchlights.  Many more, though, are captivated by the vision of the Hotel del Coronado as Baum’s inspiration, a block away from his home on Star Park Circle and historian Christine Donovan mentions that Baum was said to have designed famous the crown-shaped chandeliers in the hotel’s Crown Room.

The genesis of the word “Oz” is a harder question and Baum never said for sure how it came to be.  Many are aware of “Oz” as a nickname for “Australia” (Australia – Aussie – Aus – Oz) but the first written reference for that came in 1902, two years after Baum’s first use of Oz.  Baum also wrote fairy tales set in Arkansas’ Ozark country, but that may also be a stretch.

Author Lee Sandlin repeats one adventitious if not tantalizing legend about “Oz” in his book “Storm Kings” about the “wonderful world” of tornados.  “Baum’s gaze fell on his filing cabinet,” according to Sandlin, “where there were two drawers.  One labeled A-N, and the other O-Z.” (BL)  www.coronadohistory.org