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See the farmhouse that landed in Oz at this Kansas museum

The Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas, is displaying for the first time a model of the farmhouse that a tornado deposits in the land of Oz.
J. Schafer
/
Kansas Public Radio
The Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas, is displaying for the first time a model of the farmhouse that a tornado deposits in the land of Oz.

An important prop from the 1939 film "The Wizard of Oz" is now on temporary display at the Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas.

WAMEGO, Kansas — For years, fans of "The Wizard of Oz" have been flocking to the Oz Museum in Wamego.

If it's been a while since you visited, you might want to get there soon. An important prop from the 1939 movie is currently on display — and it's never been seen in public before.

"It is what is known as the 'tornado house,'" museum curator Chris Glasgow told Kansas Public Radio. "It was the model that they used to show the Gale farmhouse go up in the air, pulled up by the tornado, and then dropped into Munchkinland."

The Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas, temporarily features a model of the Gale farmhouse.
J. Schafer / Kansas Public Radio
/
Kansas Public Radio
The Oz Museum in Wamego, Kansas, temporarily features a model of the Gale farmhouse.

Special effects crews created three models of the farmhouse for the film, but the model now on display in Wamego is the only one that remains, Glasgow said.

It was built by A. Arnold "Buddy" Gillespie, who was part of the special effects team at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer during filming.

"Buddy Gillespie was a genius, and he was an absolute fanatic for detail," Glasgow said. "He built this as though it were a real house."

Because the model is on temporary loan from a private collection, visitors may have only a limited time to view it.

The Oz Museum in Wamego is open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Saturday and from noon to 6 p.m. on Sunday.
Copyright 2025 KCUR 89.3

J. Schafer is the News Director of Kansas Public Radio at the Univeristy of Kansas. He’s also the Managing Editor of the Kansas Public Radio Network, which provides news and information to other public radio stations in Kansas and Missouri. Before joining KPR in 1995, Schafer spent 10 years as a commercial radio and TV newsman. During his career, he's filed stories for nearly every major radio news network in the nation including ABC, NBC, CBS, AP, UPI, the Mutual Broadcasting System, NPR and the BBC. This seems to impress no one. At KPR, he produces feature stories, interviews and newscast items and edits the work of others. In the fall of 2000, he performed contract work for the U.S. State Department, traveling to central Asia to teach broadcast journalism at newly independent radio stations in the former Soviet Union. One of his passions is Kansas; learning about and promoting the state’s rich heritage, people and accomplishments. Schafer gives presentations about Kansas to various organizations around the state to remind residents about our awesome history and incredible people. A native of Great Bend, he studied journalism and mass communications at Barton County Community College and at the University of Kansas. He was also an exchange student to Villingen-Schwenningen, Germany. The “J.” in J. Schafer stands for Jeremy, but he doesn’t really care for that name. He also enjoys the pretentiousness of using just a single initial for a first name!