Chicago is where the yellow brick road truly begins, shaping Oz, inspiring Emerald City, and paving the way for Wicked
When Wicked: For Good arrives in theaters, audiences will be watching more than a new chapter in a long-running cultural phenomenon. They’ll be witnessing a legacy that traces back to the South Side of Chicago. Long before Judy Garland followed the yellow brick road, before Broadway gave Elphaba a voice, before Hollywood reimagined Oz a number of times, Chicago inspired the look, feel and imagination of an entire fantasy universe.
The legacy of Oz begins at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago.
Chicago’s White City: The spark that created Emerald City
The World’s Columbian Exposition transformed Chicago’s Jackson Park into a glowing ‘White City,’ a monumental landscape of domes, lagoons and neoclassical architecture. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Law Olmsted, the fair presented a vision so luminous and otherworldly that it felt like crossing into a magical universe. It became the most influential visual event of the era.
How did that vision impact the creator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz?
L. Frank Baum, the creator of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and the Oz series of books that followed, moved to Chicago just two years before the fair opened. The spectacle of the White City became part of the creative atmosphere that surrounded him. He lived here during its planning and development, and wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz during its aftermath. Scholars have long connected the fair’s gleaming architecture and balanced geometry to Baum’s depiction of Emerald City of Oz.
How did that vision impact Wicked?
When asked what inspired the look of Emerald City, Wicked production designer Nathan Crowley said, “I used the White City they built in Chicago for the 1893 Exposition because that was like a dream, and everybody went to see it.”
The idea that a city could be both grand and fantastical was born here in Chicago.
Structures of the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition
If you ever wondered what happened to all of the amazing structures from the fair. The architects designed the vast majority of the fair’s gleaming palaces as temporary structures with wood frames painted to look like marble. They were essentially elaborate movie sets, before movies were invented. When the fair closed, contractors salvaged what they could, and the rest was demolished. A year later, a spectacular fire swept through the abandoned fairgrounds, destroying whatever remained in a single night.
Here is a list and location map of what still remains from the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition:
- Museum of Science and Industry (originally the Palace of Fine Arts) It was the only major building constructed with brick and steel, and was later rebuilt.
- Art Institute of Chicago Main Building (formerly the World’s Congress Auxiliary Building)
- Wooded Island in Jackson Park
- Statue of the Republic Replica in Jackson Park
- Ticket Booth, at the Hills‑DeCaro House (relocated to a private residence in Oak Park)
The Wizard of Oz books: A Chicago-made literary world
Oz was not just imagined in Chicago. It was built here.
Baum wrote The Wonderful Wizard of Oz while living in Humboldt Park and later on the South Side. Chicago publisher George M. Hill released the first edition in 1900. His illustrator, W. W. Denslow, was a Chicago artist whose green and gold Emerald City artwork became iconic.
Baum would go on to write fourteen Oz novels while living in or near the city. Chicago’s booming publishing scene helped turn Oz into a national success and created one of the most enduring American fantasy franchises.
Oz on Stage and Screen
The legacy of Oz continued on both stage and screen long before Wicked reshaped the franchise. The 1902 musical toured heavily through Chicago and established the city as one of Oz’s earliest and most loyal audiences, a tradition that continued through vaudeville revivals and, more recently, the Nederlander Theatre’s successful run of Wicked.
On film, Chicago’s influence carried into the 1939 classic, whose Emerald City design echoed the Art Deco and neoclassical imagery shaped by Baum and his Chicago illustrator W. W. Denslow. Later adaptations, from Return to Oz to The Wiz and modern animated reboots, continued to draw from the architectural and imaginative foundation born in Chicago, a lineage that extends directly into the world of Wicked today.
Wicked and Wicked: For Good: The influence comes full circle
Today’s filmmakers have returned to the White City for visual cues. Production designers behind Wicked and Wicked: For Good have openly acknowledged drawing on the Columbian Exposition’s monumental classicism when shaping their new Emerald City.
More than a century later, Chicago’s architectural vision continues to guide the world of Oz.
Wicked Production Designer, Nathan Crowley
Why Chicago should feel ownership of Oz
Chicago didn’t just inspire Oz. It created it.
- The city shaped the Emerald City.
- The original story was created in Chicago
- Its publishers launched the Oz series.
- Its theaters championed early stage productions.
- Its historical architecture continues to influence modern adaptations.
The original story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, and every version of Oz from silent films to Wicked: For Good, carries a piece of Chicago’s spirit. When audiences watch the latest chapter, they aren’t just revisiting a fantasy world, they’re returning to a legacy that began right here on the Chicago lakefront.
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