My Day in Walt Disney’s Hometown

By Undercover Diva

As I grew up, my love for Disney grew. So did my love for the man who started it all. I’ve got a special place in my heart for Walt Disney, one that some people make fun of me for because they just don’t understand. I’ve read the biography for Walt Disney that was sanctioned by his family “Walt Disney: An American Original” by Bob Thomas and I would recommend it to anyone. I took a class during my Disney College Program that was all about Walt and Roy. But, there was one more thing I needed to do to satisfy my little Disney-obsessed heart. For the last 4 years I’ve been going to college 2 hours from the place Walt Disney considers his hometown, Marceline Missouri. Though he was born in Chicago, Walt remembers Marceline most, and the things he did in his short time there helped shaped his future more than anywhere else.

Though I had been planning to go to Marceline since I was a freshman, it was finals week during my senior year that I finally got the chance to go. I refused to leave Missouri without even a short trip to this historic town, so after a quick final in the morning I hopped on the road to Marceline.

Once we got into town, our first stop was the Walt Disney Hometown Museum. As we walked in we were greeted by two volunteers who quickly asked us where we were from. As soon as they learned they had one Cast Member and one Cast Member-wanna-be it was quickly decided that Inez would be our tour guide. While it didn’t make sense to us right away, we would soon be more than honored by her contribution to our tour.

 

Inez started off by telling us about the museum and town itself. The museum is inside an old train station, which lends itself to remembering how much Walt loved trains. The town itself is not very big and is very proud of the place they held in Walt Disney’s heart. She moved on to talk about Walt Disney as a boy and what his life was like when he was in Marceline. He was only there for five years but that little town made a big impression on young Walt. We learned that it is where Walt started drawing barn animals for the first time, drawings that would later in life become characters like Mickey, Goofy, Donald and Clarabelle. We learned that he used to entertain his sister Ruth with short stories accompanied by drawings he could flip through, that would seem like a cartoon. This later lead to the Silly Symphonies series. We learned he tried to hold a circus in his family’s barn, and charged neighborhood kids a dime to come in, but when the animals wouldn’t perform, the kids wanted their money back. Walt didn’t want to but his mother reminded him to always keep his audience happy. He returned the money and took his mother’s words to heart, “If you deliver more than what your audience expects – they will never be disappointed”. She told of us how the main street of the town inspired Walt in his designs for Main Street USA, and encouraged us to check it out after leaving the museum. And she told us how, in the recent years the building on the end of the road burned down and reviled and old Coca-Cola building. This building was on the same spot on the street as the Coca-Cola sponsored building in Disney Parks, just the way Walt would have remembered it.

 

At this point in her stories the Disney family moved on to Kansas City, and the town continued on without knowing the place in history they would have years later. The next time they heard from Walt it was right after Disneyland opened in California. The town invited Walt Disney to come dedicate the new community pool that they were opening, and he gladly agreed. Once Walt agreed, the town realized the gravity of what they had done. How on earth was a small town in Missouri supposed to host THE Walt Disney? There was only one house in town that had air conditioning at this point and they knew the Disneys would have to stay there. There was only one problem, and a young Inez was quick to point out that her and her husband Rush Johnson may have air conditioning, but they hardly had any furniture. She insisted that someone else take Walt, Roy and their wives in for the length of their stay. But the town insisted, and rather than move the Disney’s to a house with more furniture, they moved the furniture to the Johnson house. That was how the young Johnson couple became good friends with Walt and his family, who they quickly found to be as down to earth as any neighbor next door, and that friendship would last for the rest of their lives.

 

While Walt Disney was in Marceline to dedicate their new pool he pointed out many things about the town that made it special to him. He was quick to point out his ‘Dreaming Tree’ where he spend so many days with Ruth making up stories, even though there were many trees among the property. He visited his old school, and much to their surprise, quickly found his old desk which he had carved WD into. The old school was not quite as Disney remembered it though, it was much more run down and was falling apart. Without hesitating, Walt offered to build them a new school, as long as they kept the cornerstone from the old school so they would always remember it.

 

The opening day of the pool came along and with the dedication of they pool they asked Walt to crown the winner of the swimsuit contest they had as a part of opening day festivities. Along side him was Inez’s young daughter Kaye who got to hold the pillow which held the crown.

 

That was the end of that visit for Walt and his family, but he promised to return when the school was finished to help open that for the children of Marceline. When he returned, and stayed with the Johnson’s of course, he brought large pictures he made custom for their gym, including art work of the caterpillar from Alice in Wonderland, Goofy and the Three Little Pigs.

 

Inez and her husband became the unofficial liaisons between the Disney’s and the town of Marceline. And when that little girl was old enough, Walt offered Kaye a job at Disneyland, which she gladly took.

 

During their first trip to Marceline, Walt and Roy worked to purchase the land that held his boyhood home. He wanted to turn it into a rural experience and deemed it the Marceline Project. After Walt died in 1966 Roy called up Rush and told him the plans the two men had for the home. With Walt gone and Roy busy working on the Florida Project, he didn’t think he would be able to get around to it. Roy was going to sell the farm, but wanted to offer it to Rush first, and give him the chance to turn it down before they put it on the market. Rush did end up buying the farm from Roy, and now Kaye, that young girl who helped Walt crown the swimsuit queen all those years ago, lives in their old home with her family. Kaye is also the curator of the Walt Disney Hometown Museum and she manages the small building and all of its tour guides, who are volunteers.

 

Before our tour with Inez was over she showed us the Midget Autopia car, that had once been on a track that was in the park near the pool. This car, and a couple others that are no longer around, are part of a set that Walt Disney gave to the town after he decided to take the ride out of Disneyland. It is the only place outside of a Disney Park to have a Disney ride.

 

This is where Inez set us free to roam around the rest of the museum, which included another half of the bottom floor and the whole second story. The first small room we came upon held a giant conductor Mickey, which was one of 75 statues made for Mickey’s 75^th birthday. The next room was dedicated to the trains that held so much of a place in Walt’s heart. The next rooms were dedicated to Walt’s family, how Elias and Flora fell in love and a little on all of Walt’s siblings.

 

Upstairs had two rooms, one full of artwork that Walt had done, and the work of those who had been inspired by him. Another was a room full of the models that Walt and Roy used to design Disneyland.

 

We wanted to spend more time exploring the wealth of history that this place had to offer, but we were pressed for time and still had things we wanted to see. Inez told us we must absolutely go see the pool, which is no longer in use, as well has go see the old house and visit the replica barn that was built to replace the one that had been on the property when the Disney’s lived there. We drove down the street that inspired Main Street USA and found the Walt Disney Municipal Park, which is home to the community pool and old tracks used for the Midget Autopia. We turned back around and found the Disney farm, which we kicked ourselves for missing as we passed it on our way into town. We parked and took a minute to enjoy the ‘Dreaming Tree’ and it’s “son”, which was planted from seeds of the original tree when it started to rot and die.

 

We continued down the path to the barn, which was a beauty in itself. On the outside it doesn’t look like much, just an old barn that doesn’t look like it could hold much in the way of livestock or produce, but on the inside you are welcomed into a history book all of it’s own. Anyone who visits the barn is encouraged to leave a message for Walt on the walls, beams, and pillars that make up the structure. We had trouble finding a spot for ourselves because of all the messages that have been left over the years. The day we visited was a warm sunny day with a slight breeze, and I swore I could have sat in that barn for hours and just listened to all the different stories that had been carved into that barn. Stories of love, dedication, inspiration, encouragement, and admiration, as well as at least one proposal. It was hard to not sit there and read every single message, while at the same time feeling like it was too intimate and not wanting to disturb the privacy of those who had come before me. This old barn was a true testament to how much Walt Disney has inspired those lucky enough to have come after him, and how much his story of hardship and dedication has given hope to those who look up to him. So many people remember Walt as this big presence who seemed to be as big as one of his cartoon characters, but here in this barn in his hometown it was impossible not to remember him as a young boy with big dreams who wouldn’t take no for an answer.

 

I’m so happy that I took the time to visit this cute little town. It seems to have held as much of a place in his heart as he does in mine, and it meant so much to actually be able to go there and see it in person. If you ever find yourself in the area, I highly encourage you to check it our for yourself. The museum cost $5 a person to get in and is closed on Mondays, so keep that in mind for your travels. I promise you won’t regret taking the time out of your day to see this place. I only spent two hours there and would have loved to have spent more time checking things out. But it wasn’t impossible in the time we spent. I do recommend trying to give yourself at least half a day so you can really check out the things in the museum, and maybe stop at the ice cream store that everyone recommends. I think my next stop might have to be the Walt Disney Family Museum in San Francisco.