Behind The Scenes Secrets: The Wizard Of Oz

Baby Dorothy’s Grave

Dorothy Gale was named after the real-life baby niece of L. Frank Baum. Back in 1898, the brother and sister and law of Maud Gage Baum (L. Frank Baum’s wife) had a baby girl named Dorothy Louise Gage. She died only five months later and her mother was understandably heartbroken. At the time, Baum had just completed his novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” and as a nod to his grieving wife and her sister and law he named the heroine of the novel Dorothy. The real-life baby Dorothy was buried in Bloomington, Illinois at Evergreen Memorial Cemetery in Bloomington, Illinois. Her grave was all but forgotten until 1996 when someone came across it. Mickey Carroll, who was one of the last living Munchkins, found out about the grave and decided to help replace her deteriorated headstone. Mickey actually owned his own monument company. In 1997, the new stone was dedicated and the cemetery even renamed the children’s section the Dorothy L. Gage Memorial Garden.