The 100th block of North Carpenter Avenue in the city - which is the location of her chat show - has been renamed Oprah Winfrey Way, and the 57-year-old television mogul has joked it is a "full circle miracle" as she had grown up on a "red dirt road" in Mississippi.

She said: "It is really just a full-circle miracle story that a little coloured girl born in Kosciusko, Mississippi, on a red dirt road ends up with my name on a street in the greatest city in the world, Chicago. So, thank you! That`s better than an Oscar or an Emmy."

The star moved to the city to audition to host a TV show called `AM Chicago`, and revealed to the crowd outside Harpo Studios on 11.05.11 she would have stayed in the city even if she didn?t get the job.

She said: "I thought, even if I don`t get the job, I`ll move into advertising in order to just be able to live in the city, which truly is the greatest city in the world.

"I just would like to say `thank you` to the mayor and also to the city of Chicago for embracing me and allowing me to take a stand and make a stand here in this city.

Mayor Richard Daley - who was with Oprah to unveil the road sign - described her as a "great presence" in the city.

He said: "There isn`t enough time or adequate words that can describe what your 25-year journey has meant to Chicago.

"Your presence in Chicago has been a gift over two decades. The `Oprah Winfrey Show` has drawn worldwide attention to our city and an instinctive energy from it."
sections: Celebrities