Program

NYS Historic

Subject

People, Site

Location

2601 Brewerton Rd, Syracuse, NY 13211, USA

Lat/Long

43.10291, -76.14634

Grant Recipient

The Lyman Frank Baum Foundation Inc. of Syracuse

Lyman Frank Baum was born in Chittenango, New York to Benjamin and Cynthia Baum. In 1866, his father moved the family to a farm in the Town of Salina known as “Rose Lawn.”

Frank, as he preferred to be known, tried a number of different professions before achieving literary fame in 1900 with the publication of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. The 1870 U.S. Census lists 24 year old Frank’s profession as raising “fancy poultry.” He was also a reporter, an editor, a playwright and a theatre manager. (Map of Kansas Literature, Washburn University. Accessed 26 March 2025)

In 1882, Frank married Maud Gage, the daughter of noted suffragist Matilda Joslyn Gage. When they met, Maud was the Cornell University roommate of Frank’s cousin. They moved west to Aberdeen, South Dakota, then to Chicago. In 1898, Frank began writing the Wizard of Oz. When it was published in 1900, it is said that he became not only the best-selling children’s author in the country, but the founder of a new genre. The book was informal without the heavy doses of morality seen in children’s literature up to this time. (Frank Baum, the Man Behind the Curtain. Smithsonian Magazine, 2009. Accessed 26 March 2025)

In his life, L. Frank Baum wrote dozens of novels, plays, short stories and books of poetry. In 1910, he moved his family to Hollywood, California where he worked on short films based on his Oz tales. His health declined in later years and Baum passed away on May 6, 1919. He is interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles.