Yellow brick road
The actual road is believed to be one in Peekskill, New York, where L. Frank Baum attended Peekskill Military Academy. According to a local legend, the Yellow Brick Road was derived from a road paved with yellow bricks near Holland, Michigan, where Baum spent summers. Ithaca, New York, also makes a claim for being Frank Baum's inspiration. He opened a road tour of his musical, The Maid of Arran, in Ithaca, and he met his future wife Maud Gage Baum while she was attending Cornell University. At the time, yellow bricks paved local roads. Yellow brick roads can also be found in Aberdeen, South Dakota; Albany, New York; Rossville (Baltimore County), Maryland; Montclair, New Jersey (Parkhurst Place and Afterglow Way); Bronxville, New York (on Prescott and Valley roads); Chicago, Illinois; Liberal, Kansas; Sedan, Kansas and Chittenango, New York, as well as a school in Abington, Pennsylvania, and abroad in Sofia, Bulgaria.
Chittenango, New York
In 1982, the village installed a brick sidewalk on either side of the downtown portion of Genesee St. which was painted yellow as an homage to the yellow brick road from the novels and film. The sidewalk required regular upkeep as the color would fade over time and the bricks would chip and crack due to the freeze-thaw cycles in the colder months and regular use throughout the year. As part of a downtown Chittenango revitalization project in 2007, the sidewalks were replaced with concrete which was then stamped and colored to replicate the yellow brick road. The old bricks have been made available to purchase at the All Things Oz museum and during the festival to raise money for the town's festival. In 2017, the village also added a yellow brick road sidewalk to Dr. West memorial park where the annual Oz-stravaganza festival is held.