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Main Street USA is the little town by the railroad tracks made famous by Walt Disney.
In 1888, the first town lot was sold in the newly-platted division by the upcoming new railway, later to be known as Marceline. The popular story is that the town was named after Marcelina, the wife of a pioneering railroad official. An outstanding little town on its own merit, Disney’s popularity made his boyhood town a model of a perfect little American town.
Marceline is the journey’s end after meandering through the curly hills along the Lewis and Clark Trail north of Boonville, Mo. Marceline is an everyday-people sort of town and has just more than 2,500 residents.
Home of America’s beloved Walt Disney, focal points are the Main Street, Walt Disney Home Town Museum, the city’s park, the Disney family barn and Dreaming Tree.
Walt Disney was one of five children. Born in Chicago in 1901, Walt lived most of his childhood in Marceline. He passed away in 1966 in California. At the time of his passing he was still actively a part of Disney productions. Due to the fact that he was a mere 16 years old, he was rejected from enlisting in W.W. I. He then joined the Red Cross, was sent to France, and became an ambulance driver and a chauffeur. His ambulance was cleverly painted, not with camouflage, but with his own cartoon characters.
In 1919, he returned to Kansas City, Mo., making commercials based on "cutout animation" cutout animations. Disney decided to become an animator. Eventually, Walt Disney’s cartoons became quite popular through their presentation at the Newman Theater in Kansas City.
Through his success, he was able to acquire his own studio called Laugh-O-Gram. Unable to successfully manage money, Disney's studio became bankrupt. He and his brother, Roy, moved his business to Hollywood. In 1925 Walt married one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds.
At each Disney theme park there is only one entrance: under the station of the old-fashioned steam railroad, through a town square, and down the Main Street of a nostalgic 19th century American town. The theme is repeated throughout all Disney parks: all are designed as miniature towns with one entrance and included a railroad.
Visiting Disney’s home town you will be able to step back in time to the peaceful era surrounding his growing-up years. What’s changed? Well, the once-busy depot is now a museum. No longer do the trains stop at the depot, but trains do continue to pass along the nearby train tracks. The Ripley Park Gazebo that influenced the 1935 “The Band Concert” with Mickey and Donald is now home to a Disneyland train engine and caboose. As of 1960 the local school’s name was changed to Walt Disney Elementary. The “Midget Autopia” Disneyland amusement attraction that once gave rides in the park to kids, now greets visitors in the museum. The Uptown Theater, where the 1966 Walt Disney’s “The Great Locomotive Chase” premier was shown, retains its simple demeanor. The 1946 drug store has a new name and there is now an antique store whose logo includes pixies and a bit of their magic dust.
The Disney family home was just north of town on 45 acres of farmland. The path leads past Walt’s “Dreaming Tree” and leads to the re-created family’s barn. The inside is vacant except for a multitude of personal messages left behind by previous visitors. Today’s guests are invited to leave a message of their own on the barn-wood walls.
Disney explained one of his earliest attraction plans this way, "I just want it to look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a train." He loved entertaining his daughters and their friends in his backyard and taking them for rides on his miniature Carolwood Pacific Railroad.
Disneyland officially opened on July 18, 1955. Walt gave the following dedication day speech: To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past ... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”
Main Street USA is the little town by the railroad tracks made famous by Walt Disney.
In 1888, the first town lot was sold in the newly-platted division by the upcoming new railway, later to be known as Marceline. The popular story is that the town was named after Marcelina, the wife of a pioneering railroad official. An outstanding little town on its own merit, Disney’s popularity made his boyhood town a model of a perfect little American town.
Marceline is the journey’s end after meandering through the curly hills along the Lewis and Clark Trail north of Boonville, Mo. Marceline is an everyday-people sort of town and has just more than 2,500 residents.
Home of America’s beloved Walt Disney, focal points are the Main Street, Walt Disney Home Town Museum, the city’s park, the Disney family barn and Dreaming Tree.
Walt Disney was one of five children. Born in Chicago in 1901, Walt lived most of his childhood in Marceline. He passed away in 1966 in California. At the time of his passing he was still actively a part of Disney productions. Due to the fact that he was a mere 16 years old, he was rejected from enlisting in W.W. I. He then joined the Red Cross, was sent to France, and became an ambulance driver and a chauffeur. His ambulance was cleverly painted, not with camouflage, but with his own cartoon characters.
In 1919, he returned to Kansas City, Mo., making commercials based on "cutout animation" cutout animations. Disney decided to become an animator. Eventually, Walt Disney’s cartoons became quite popular through their presentation at the Newman Theater in Kansas City.
Through his success, he was able to acquire his own studio called Laugh-O-Gram. Unable to successfully manage money, Disney's studio became bankrupt. He and his brother, Roy, moved his business to Hollywood. In 1925 Walt married one of his first employees, Lillian Bounds.
At each Disney theme park there is only one entrance: under the station of the old-fashioned steam railroad, through a town square, and down the Main Street of a nostalgic 19th century American town. The theme is repeated throughout all Disney parks: all are designed as miniature towns with one entrance and included a railroad.
Visiting Disney’s home town you will be able to step back in time to the peaceful era surrounding his growing-up years. What’s changed? Well, the once-busy depot is now a museum. No longer do the trains stop at the depot, but trains do continue to pass along the nearby train tracks. The Ripley Park Gazebo that influenced the 1935 “The Band Concert” with Mickey and Donald is now home to a Disneyland train engine and caboose. As of 1960 the local school’s name was changed to Walt Disney Elementary. The “Midget Autopia” Disneyland amusement attraction that once gave rides in the park to kids, now greets visitors in the museum. The Uptown Theater, where the 1966 Walt Disney’s “The Great Locomotive Chase” premier was shown, retains its simple demeanor. The 1946 drug store has a new name and there is now an antique store whose logo includes pixies and a bit of their magic dust.
The Disney family home was just north of town on 45 acres of farmland. The path leads past Walt’s “Dreaming Tree” and leads to the re-created family’s barn. The inside is vacant except for a multitude of personal messages left behind by previous visitors. Today’s guests are invited to leave a message of their own on the barn-wood walls.
Disney explained one of his earliest attraction plans this way, "I just want it to look like nothing else in the world. And it should be surrounded by a train." He loved entertaining his daughters and their friends in his backyard and taking them for rides on his miniature Carolwood Pacific Railroad.
Disneyland officially opened on July 18, 1955. Walt gave the following dedication day speech: To all who come to this happy place; welcome. Disneyland is your land. Here age relives fond memories of the past ... and here youth may savor the challenge and promise of the future. Disneyland is dedicated to the ideals, the dreams and the hard facts that have created America ... with the hope that it will be a source of joy and inspiration to all the world.”
