When it Comes to the Yellow Brick Road, There’s No Place Like Peekskill

Now that the international spotlight has turned on Peekskill’s yellow brick, no others have laid claim to anything like it that could have influenced author L. Frank Baum’s The Wizard of Oz. Community members aim to build on the momentum and bring the beloved Dorothy, Tin Man, Scarecrow, Lion and Toto to the city’s real yellow brick road forever.

Peekskill Historian John Curran’s extensive research, which claims the city’s yellow brick road as the only likely inspiration for that in the famous child’s book, is widely accepted by Baum experts as the most accurate. And after Curran’s findings were published in the Wall Street Journal in early June, CBS, NPR and the Times of London rushed to cover his findings, breathing new life into his now ten-year-old research.

proves as extensively as possible the yellow brick road in the Wizard of Oz was based on what was Peekskill’s West Street in the 1860s, a short road that led from the waterfront to what is now Water Street, a portion of which still remains behind the Standard House. Author L. Frank Baum attended the Peekskill Military Academy from 1868 until 1870 and Curran believes that the 12-year-old Baum must have taken a steamboat down the Hudson and was told to “follow the yellow brick road.”

“Since all this media attention we have seen no challenges to our claim,” Curran said, vindicated by the discovery. “This almost settles the case. In common law, this would make it ours, if this were a legal issue.”

Curran hopes the national attention will bring Peekskill the prominence it deserves as an important part of the classic American story. And while the historian stands firmly behind his claim, Peekskill’s Deb Carlin Polhill plans to use the media attention as momentum to start fundraising efforts for a proper commemorative project, designed to spark imagination.

The project: a 20-30 foot stretch of a new yellow brick road along the Peekskill riverfront for life-size sculptures of the book’s famous characters to “forever skip upon,” said Carlin Polhill.

The cost: $225,000, which Carlin Polhill hopes to raise from community members, businesses, and most ambitiously, wealthy Oz lovers from across the country.

“The idea is to be something kids and adults can approach and touch,” she said. “It will be inspirational and will contribute to the imagination.”

Carlin Polhill started the project three years ago at the age of 52, a time when she retired from her career working in New York City as a sales and contract analyst and began writing songs. Her song “Anything Can Happen,” alludes to Baum’s presence in Peekskill and the power of imagination. 

“One thing that freed me and inspired me was thought of this project,” Carlin Polhill said. “Its not about anything other then can we please have an opportunity to celebrate that this gentlemen (Baum) was here and that he celebrated imagination and we are all the better for it."

Carlin Polhill says that even though the connection may be scientifically unconfirmed, the fact that Baum lived in Peekskill for two years is enough to honor with an appropriate tribute.

Sculptor Richard Masloski agrees. Masloski has designed Oz sculptures off of the drawings from Baum's original book in hopes of the project moving forward. He has done similar sculptures for places like Irvington, where his Rip Van Winkle sculpture forever sleeps. He also sculpted the Lincoln statue located at the future (which is right down the street from the yellow brick road –one more of Peekskill’s many historic sites).

Masloski joined Carlin Polhill and Curran in a meeting with city officials in 2009 to discuss using city-owned park land for the project. The city was supportive, but more pressing matters have pushed the Baum project back on its priority list.

“We saw Masloski’s (model) sculptures and it would be a really neat thing,” Mayor Mary Foster told Patch. Foster said she and the staff are supportive of the group’s idea, but the money would need to come from private donors, which the city cannot solicit. That is where Polhill steps in.

Her plan is to lead fund-raising efforts once they reach an agreement with the city to use part of Riverfront Green Park for the project.

“Buy a brick, build a dream,” will be the project’s catch phrase, Carlin Polhill says. She plans to offer donors yellow bricks with their names engraved to help pay for the project.

Masloski is eager to take on the project because of his love for the story.

“The artist can only do so much,” Masloski said about his abstaining from most fund-raising. “But I am dying (for this project to happen) because I love American history, I love art and I love the Wizard of Oz,” he said.

He and Carlin Polhill can talk passionately and extensively about their many different ideas, which include green obelisks to pay tribute to the Emerald City, coordination with the Chamber of Commerce and even targeted donors they think may be likely to contribute. They both point out that the $225,000 cost would be repaid over the years through tourism.

“There are over hundreds of Wizard of Oz clubs and events around the world,” Masloski said, explaining out that Peekskill would become a new destination for fan groups.

Masloski eagerly explains that a third of the total cost would be enough for him to start sculpting, casting and bronzing the sculptures. He says he has learned from experience that once the project is tangible, people see it come to life and donations start flowing.

“In these dismal times, this could be a project that would excite children of all ages,” Masloski said.

If the tribute could be paid in enthusiasm, Carlin Polhill, Curran, Masloski, and undoubtedly hundreds of local munchkins discovering the story for the first time, would have plenty to donate. But unlike in the Land of Oz, it will take more than a click of ruby red heels to make a wish come true. If the community pulls together, Peekskill can pay proper tribute to its role in one of the most beloved and inspirational childhood stories of all time.

To get involved with the project contact Deb Carlin Polhill here.

For a detailed account of Curran’s findings, read this article on a presentation he provided to the Van Cortlandtville Historical Society in December 2010.

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