Today I learned that Roselawn, the childhood home of L. Frank Baum near Syracuse, New York, burned down in 1899. His mother rebuilt a house there, which upon her death was used as a roadhouse/hotel. That structure burned down in the 1950s, and was replaced by a roller rink which went belly-up.
The lot now sits vacant. On Google Maps, it's at 2601 Brewerton, Mattydale, Syracuse NY.
I don't know why I went down this particular rabbit hole, but here we are.
I wonder if that would bother him, though. He grew up in a wealthy family -- his father was one of those who struck it rich in Pennsylvania oil -- and had a lot of his dreams and fancies, ranging from raising show chickens to touring with a company of actors putting on a play of his own creation, paid for by his father, who it seems rather indulged him (not knocking that; at least he wasn't a skinflint with his oil money). Baum might look at the lot and be philosophical about it all, as he wrote about a world that was changing from agrarian to industrial in his books.
This has also been enlightening:
By the way, if you're prone to cancelling those from the past for "naughty" thoughts and actions, don't watch this. Or, by extension, read his books. But you're so enlightened you probably already knew that.
If you can get past that, give this a watch. It's a pretty fascinating story of a man fighting against his own failures and espousing views at the time that would have had him cancelled then.
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