Hello again Mousketeers,
When you live in Missouri it can be frustrating being so far from the Disney Meccas. However, Missouri does have a very important connection with the Disney legacy, if not the most important! Have you ever heard of Marceline? Probably not, unless you live in North Central Missouri or are a Walt Disney historian. However, Marceline is the groundwork for what later became the Disney Empire. This past April I made my first trip to Marceline to see what was up.
Way back in the spring of 1906, the Disney family (Elias (father), Flora (mother), brothers Roy, Raymond, Herbert, 4 year old Walt, and little sister Ruth) moved to rural Missouri from Chicago. The reasons for this move were to remove the family from the crime filled streets of Chicago and raise the children in Christian surroundings. Upon arrival, rural Missouri was quite a change in scenery to the children. With the wide open surroundings and nature all around him this is where Walt's imagination began to flourish.
Today, Marceline is still the small town it has always been. But I had no idea how much Walt Disney affected this community and how much it affected him. Without some due research, you would probably not even know the town was there, but once you enter you can immediately sense the Disney influence. The train depot which was built in 1913 still stands and now is the Walt Disney Hometown Museum. As you travel down the main street of town (named Main Street USA, of course) you will see a familiar Disney icon on the streetlights (see pic).
I thought this was so cool. In fact, Walt himself designed Disneyland's Main Street from his memories of this main road through Marceline. And to tell the truth I hear it hasn't changed much over the past century. Zurcher's department store still stands and you can see the immediate comparison to a certain Coca-Cola building at Disneyland. The resemblance is uncanny! I guess it shouldn't be all that surprising though since Walt made return visits to Marceline through the years leading up to his death inorder to get ideas for his themepark as well as other projects he was working on.On one of his return visits he helped with the dedication of the Walt Disney Municipal Park and the adjacent swimming pool. He also returned for the dedication of the Walt Disney School (which to this day has some very cool artifacts inside, but I'll get to that in another post).
There's quite a bit to tell about what Marceline has to show from their Disney past such as the old Disney homestead, the Dreaming Tree and the Red Barn that sits on the property, the Santa Fe & Disneyland Railway locomotive, etc... But the most interesting artifact in my opinion is the midget Autopia. It's located, or what's left of it anyway, at the Walt Disney Municipal Park and it bears the distinction as the only Disney attraction to be permanently moved from a Disney themepark and relocated elsewhere. I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it. Could you imagine what it would have been like to be a child in 1966 living literally in a small town in the middle of nowhere and to have an actual Disneyland ride brought to your park? WoW! I'll post some pictures and tell you more in another post since this is getting a little long-winded.
See ya real soon!
Rob
