Appropriately located in a small town in Kansas (Wamego to be exact!) is the Oz Museum. Follow the yellow brick road past movie memorabilia, memories of L. Frank Baum, and more.
Full of Oz History
The OZ Museum is dedicated to all things Oz, from the very beginning through today – over 100 years of history! Exhibits display memorabilia from the author, L. Frank Baum’s life and writing, as well as movie props and other Oz-themed collectibles. Historical facts and other behind-the-scenes tidbits are sprinkled throughout the museum.
Take a quick peek inside!
A Short Video Tour of the Museum
Sometimes it’s fun to see things in action so if you’d like to see even more of what it’s like inside the museum, check out this quick video tour.
Favorite Fun Fact
So my favorite fun fact I learned at the museum was about the tornado. The tornado in the film was 35 feet tall and made of muslin, sewn together with piano wire. (People had to be a lot more creative before CGI, that’s for sure!) It was attached at the top of the stage and moved back and forth at the bottom to create the spinning storm seen onscreen.
Believe it or not, this cinematic tornado made it into the Top 100 Weather Moments. The Wizard of Oz tornado was #55 on the list! You can watch the two minute clip all about what was for most people, the first tornado they had ever seen. This makes sense given the annual replay of the movie on television and how infrequent real-life tornadoes are in a lot of places. Even though I lived in the midwest as a young child, this cinematic tornado was probably my first tornado too.
(#55 starts at 1:26 – disregard the crazy Packers fans in the thumbnail – we’re only here for the tornado!)
Want to learn even more about The Wizard of Oz history?
You can learn lots more Oz history on the museum blog.
You can also find out more about how the book and movie came to be in this post.
The Museum is super friendly – to people AND pets!
They let us bring Rocco inside the gift shop and if we could have carried him in our arms, he would have been allowed to go through the museum with us as well. So if your dog is Toto-sized, then you’re in luck! While we waited for everyone to have a turn inside the museum, Rocco did some shopping in the nice museum gift shop and we walked around admiring the cute downtown area. We even found a yellow brick road!
Other Things To Do In Wamego
As usual, our stop in Wamego was super quick. We saw the museum then got back on the road. The Town of Wamego has several other points of interest and even a couple annual festivals, including OZtoberfest. Check the town website for more info!
Sharing is Caring!
Pin it so you’ll remember to visit on your next trip to Kansas!
You may see that I shared with a friend in Kansas who likely knows the museum frontwards and backwards. So glad Granddog Rocco was well received. Maybe Cooper would like to go next.
Thanks for sharing! It was a fun little museum to visit.