A 1986 photo shows the Beltway overpass, Mormon Temple in Kensington in the background
Surrender Dorothy
Since its dedication in 1974, silhouetting the D.C. Landscape with a emerald city esq vision, the Mormon Temple in Kensington has been getting heckled.
Travelers on the Beltway in D.C. are treated to a brilliant heckle that has been going on for well over 3 decades. On the Beltway just as the 3 spires of the temple come into view, the message “Surrender Dorothy” has been painted, covered, painted, covered, painted…
For more times then anyone can remember.
1939 Wizard of Oz “Surrender Dorothy” scene over Emerald City
The well picked joke comes from the awesome Wizard of Oz scene when Dorothy and crew just arrive in Emerald City. The wicked witch shows up over the skies and writes Surrender Dorothy with her broomstick for all to see.
What the motivations of the joke are remains the mystery just like its author’s.
Montgomery Journal- Oct. 31, 1974
The story can be traced innocently enough when in 1974 the senior class of Holy Child, a Catholic girls school in Potomac, to a school trip to the new Mormon temple.
When Classmates noticed the resemblance to the emerald city from the walkway, a prank was hashed.
A couple classmates returned to the spot later and the first Surrender Dorothy was written with newspapers in the chain link of a overpass in October 1974.
When the original joke was cleaned up, Artist soon made sure all will Remember that Surrender Dorothy lives on.
After Hours (1985) – Surrender Dorothy Scene