Irving, Kansas | |
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Coordinates: 39°38′20″N96°35′51″W / 39.63889°N 96.59750°W Coordinates: 39°38′20″N96°35′51″W / 39.63889°N 96.59750°W [1] | |
Country | United States |
State | Kansas |
County | Marshall |
Founded | 1859 |
Named for | Washington Irving |
Elevation | 1,142 ft (348 m) |
Population | |
• Total | 0 |
Time zone | UTC-6 (CST) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC-5 (CDT) |
FIPS code | 20-14325 [1] |
GNIS ID | 481910 [1] |
Irving is a ghost town in Marshall County, Kansas, United States, [1] located six miles southeast of the city of Blue Rapids along the Big Blue River. Irving was one of the many towns affected by "Big Dam Foolishness" during the construction of Tuttle Creek Lake about ten miles to the south. Although the lake never reached the town, the federal government forced remaining residents to vacate the town.
Irving was founded in 1859 by a small group from Lyons, Iowa. They named the town after author Washington Irving. [2] [3] [4] In the spring of 1860, a severe drought ruined crops and forced some farmers to lose their land. Over the summer the area was wracked with fierce winds and thunderstorms that blew down buildings, took roofs and damaged the saw mill. During the fall, some residents chose to leave and return to Iowa. [5] In 1866, the community was invaded by grasshoppers that also destroyed crops and damaged trees. The town would have another plague in 1875. Despite these hardships, in 1878, Irving was described as "being located in one of the best settled and best cultivated portions of Marshall County" [6]
On May 30, 1879, two tornadoes destroyed most of the town, leaving 19 dead and many more injured. These tornadoes were extensively studied by the pioneer American meteorologist John Park Finley, and author L. Frank Baum may have named the main character of his Wonderful Wizard of Oz , Dorothy Gale after one of the victims. [7] Some residents left Irving, but the town was rebuilt, and new businesses arrived, allowing Irving to regain its prominence as a local agricultural center.
During the summer of 1903, the Big Blue River flooded and destroyed homes, crops and bridges. The river threatened to do it again in 1908 but the townspeople were prepared and were able to keep the river within its banks. In 1910 the population was estimated at 403 and boasted "good banking facilities, a weekly newspaper, telegraph and express offices, graded schools, public library, churches of all denominations, and three rural routes extend from the Irving post office." [8]
After plans for the construction of the Tuttle Creek Dam were announced, the population declined and many businesses, including the post office, closed. [9] The townsite was abandoned in 1960 after the dam was constructed. Nevertheless, because the lake is miles away, Irving remains accessible and its road network and building foundations visible. A stone marker sits in a makeshift park along with a mailbox and notebook in which visitors can write.
The first schoolhouse was built in 1868 but was destroyed in 1879. The stone school was replaced by a frame one the same year.
Established around 1864, the Wetmore Institute was built on a slope overlooking the town and named for A.H. Wetmore. The limestone building was partially destroyed by the 1879 tornadoes and burned down in 1880. [10]
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz is a 1900 children's novel written by author L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. It is the first novel in the Oz series of books. A Kansas farm girl named Dorothy ends up in the magical Land of Oz after she and her pet dog Toto are swept away from their home by a tornado. Upon her arrival in the magical world of Oz, she learns she cannot return home until she has destroyed the Wicked Witch of the West.
The yellow brick road is a fictional element in the 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by American author L. Frank Baum. The road also appears in the several sequel Oz books such as The Marvelous Land of Oz (1904) and The Patchwork Girl of Oz (1913).
Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz is the fourth book set in the Land of Oz written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by John R. Neill. It was published on June 18, 1908 and reunites Dorothy Gale with the humbug Wizard from The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). This is one of only two of the original fourteen Oz books (the other being The Emerald City of Oz, to be illustrated with watercolor paintings.
Dorothy Gale is a fictional character created by American author L. Frank Baum as the protagonist in many of his Oz novels. She first appears in Baum's classic 1900 children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappears in most of its sequels. In addition, she is the main character in various adaptations, notably the classic 1939 film adaptation of the novel, The Wizard of Oz.
Oscar Zoroaster Phadrig Isaac Norman Henkle Emmannuel Ambroise Diggs is a fictional character in the Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. The character was further popularized by a stage play and several films, including the classic 1939 film and the 2013 prequel adaptation.
Nick Chopper, the Tin Woodman, also known as the Tin Man or—mistakenly—the "Tin Woodsman," is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum. Baum's Tin Woodman first appeared in his classic 1900 book The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and reappeared in many other subsequent Oz books in the series. In late 19th-century America, men made out of various tin pieces were used in advertising and political cartoons. Baum, who was editing a magazine on decorating shop windows when he wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, was reportedly inspired to invent the Tin Woodman by a figure he had built out of metal parts for a shop display.
The Scarecrow is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum and illustrator W.W. Denslow. In his first appearance, the Scarecrow reveals that he lacks a brain and desires above all else to have one. In reality, he is only two days old and merely naïve. Throughout the course of the novel, he proves to have the brains he seeks and is later recognized as "the wisest man in all of Oz," although he continues to credit the Wizard for them. He is, however, wise enough to know his own limitations and all too happy to hand the rulership of Oz, passed to him by the Wizard, to Princess Ozma, and become one of her trusted advisors, though he typically spends more time having fun than advising.
Toto is a fictional dog in L. Frank Baum's Oz series of children's books, and works derived from them. His name is pronounced with a long "O", a homophone of "toe toe". He was originally a small terrier drawn by W. W. Denslow for the first edition of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1900). He reappears in numerous adaptations, such as The Wizard of Oz (1939) and The Wiz (1978).
Boq is a minor character in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. He becomes a more prominent character in Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, which purports to show the lives of some of Baum's characters from another perspective, and more prominent still in the 2003 Broadway musical Wicked which is based on Maguire's novel.
Aunt Em is a fictional character from the Oz books. She is the aunt of Dorothy Gale and wife of Uncle Henry, and lives together with them on a farm in Kansas. In The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, she is described as having been a "young, pretty wife" when she arrived at Uncle Henry's farm, but having been "grayed" by her life there, implying that she appears older than her years. Baum tells us that when Dorothy first came to live with her, Em would "scream and press her hand upon her heart" when startled by Dorothy's laughter, and she appears emotionally distant to her at the beginning of the story. However, after Dorothy is restored to her at the end of the book, we see her true nature: she cries out, "My darling child!" and covers her with kisses.
The Wizard of Oz is a 1925 American silent fantasy-adventure comedy film directed by Larry Semon, who also performs in the lead role as a Kansas farmhand and later in the story disguised as the Scarecrow.
Uncle Henry is a fictional character from The Oz Books by L. Frank Baum. He is the uncle of Dorothy Gale and husband of Aunt Em, and lived with them on a farm in Kansas.
Political interpretations of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz include treatments of the modern fairy tale as an allegory or metaphor for the political, economic, and social events of America in the 1890s. Scholars have examined four quite different versions of Oz: the novel of 1900, the Broadway play of 1902, the Hollywood film of 1939, and the numerous follow-up Oz novels written after 1900 by Baum and others.
His Majesty, the Scarecrow of Oz is a 1914 American silent fantasy adventure film directed by J. Farrell MacDonald, and written and produced by L. Frank Baum. It stars Violet MacMillan, Frank Moore, Vivian Reed, Todd Wright, Pierre Couderc, Raymond Russell, and Fred Woodward.
The Wizard of Oz was a 1902 musical extravaganza based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum. Although Baum is the credited bookwriter, Glen MacDonough was hired on as jokewriter after Baum had finished the script. Much of the original music was by Paul Tietjens and has been mostly forgotten, although it was still well-remembered and in discussion at MGM in 1939 when the classic film version of the story was made. The show's history is covered in more than 100 pages of the book Oz Before the Rainbow; L Frank Baum's 'The Wonderful Wizard of Oz' on stage and screen to 1939 by Mark Evan Swartz.
The Fairylogue and Radio-Plays was an early attempt to bring L. Frank Baum's Oz books to the motion picture screen. It was a mixture of live actors, hand-tinted magic lantern slides, and film. Baum himself would appear as if he were giving a lecture, while he interacted with the characters. Although acclaimed throughout its tour, the show experienced budgetary problems and folded after two months of performances. It opened in Grand Rapids, Michigan on September 24, 1908. It then opened in Orchestra Hall in Chicago on October 1, toured the country and ended its run in New York City. There, it was scheduled to run through December 31, and ads for it continued to run in The New York Times until then, but it reportedly closed on December 16.
The Wizard of Oz is a 1933 Canadian-American animated short film directed by Ted Eshbaugh. The story is credited to "Col. Frank Baum." Frank Joslyn Baum, a lieutenant colonel in the United States Army and eldest son of writer L. Frank Baum, was involved in the film's production, and may have had an involvement in the film's script, which is loosely inspired by the elder Baum's 1900 novel, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. It runs approximately eight and a half minutes and is nearly wordless, working mainly with arrangements of classical music created by Carl W. Stalling.
Oz Park is a public park in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of North Side, Chicago. It is located at 2021 North Burling Street, at the corner of Lincoln and Webster, just south of the Lincoln, Halsted, and Fullerton intersection.
The Wizard of Oz is a musical commissioned by The Muny based on the 1900 novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum and the 1939 film, The Wizard of Oz, using the film's songs by Harold Arlen and E.Y. Harburg. The book of the musical is by Frank Gabrielson, who would later write an adaptation of The Marvelous Land of Oz (1960) for Shirley Temple (1960).
Dorothy of Oz is a 1989 children's novel written by L. Frank Baum's great-grandson Roger S. Baum. The book details Dorothy Gale returning to the Land of Oz when a Jester has been using the wand of the Wicked Witch of the West to take over the Land of Oz. The book was adapted into a film called Legends of Oz: Dorothy's Return in 2014 by Clarius Entertainment.