About an hour's drive from Kansas City, Missouri is the small town of Marceline. Walt Disney was four years old when his parents, Flora and Elias, packed their suitcases and moved their five children (Herbert, Raymond, Roy, Walt, and Ruth) from Chicago to Marceline in 1906. Walt loved living in Marceline. In 1938, he declared to the Marceline News that "more things of importance happened to me in Marceline than have happened since - or are likely to in the future."
Walt's recollections of growing up in Marceline inspired him throughout his life. As he once noted, "Everything connected with Marceline was a thrill to us, coming, as we did, from a city the size of Chicago. The cows, pigs, and chickens gave me a big thrill, and perhaps that's the reason we use so many barnyard animals in the Mickey Mouse and Silly Symphony pictures today - who knows!" Certainly, Main Street U.S.A. in Disneyland was inspired by Walt's memories of his hometown's main street (back then it was called Kansas Avenue).
Walt's love of railroads began in Marceline. One of Walt's earliest memories was when his family first arrived there on the train. "A Mr. Coffman met us in his wagon and we rode out to our house in the country just outside the city limits." He also spent considerable time with an uncle, Mike Martin, who was a Santa Fe Railroad engineer. Martin often passed through the town on his route to Iowa, and he regaled his nephew with stories about working on the rails. Currently, the Walt Disney Hometown Museum is housed in the Santa Fe Railroad station in Marceline.
Walt cherished his time in Marceline and spent so much of his life after he left trying to recreate it. Disney once said, "I hope the youth of today and the future know a childhood as happy as was mine in Marceline." In describing the Marceline he knew, Walt said it was the place where he got to experience "my first country life, seeing my first circus parade, attending my first school, seeing my first motion picture!"
In 1911, Elias Disney experienced health issues and decided to uproot the family to Kansas City. Regardless of where Walt moved to, Marceline held his heart. As he later noted, "I'm glad I'm a small-town boy and I'm glad Marceline was my town." In 1948, the movie So Dear to My Heart was released. Walt later admitted that "So Dear was especially close to me. Why, that's the life my brother and I grew up with as kids out in Missouri." Seven years later, Walt released Lady and the Tramp with the setting largely based on his memories of Marceline.
In 1956, Walt and his brother, Roy, started what they called the "Marceline Project." Under their private company named Retlaw (Walter spelled backward), the Disney brothers purchased 300 acres, including their family farm, on which they planned to build a living history project revolving around the idea of rural experiences. In 1966, they decided to move the Midget Autopia Ride from Disneyland to Marceline. Walt and Roy were supposed to dedicate the ride in the summer of that year, but it was canceled at the last minute due to Walt experiencing a bad cough. Several months later, he died of lung cancer.
After Walt's death, plans for the Marceline Project ended. However, the Disney family remained intent on keeping ties to Marceline alive after Walt's death. Ruth Disney developed the Walt Disney Hometown Museum and donated lots of family artifacts to display. Visitors can take a self-guided walking tour of Marceline - directions can be found on the Walt Disney Hometown Museum website. Most sites are within walking distance of Main Street, with a few other sites a short drive away.
If you are ever in northcentral Missouri and can spend several hours taking a trip back in time, Global Wishes highly recommends exploring Marceline, which holds a special place in Disney history.
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