MARCELINE – It’s a street that millions of people around the world see every day in California, Paris, Hong Kong and Florida.
You’ll find Main Street, U.S.A at numerous Disney Parks around the world. But its inspiration, and the man who created it, came from somewhere a little bit closer to home, in Marceline, Missouri.
Marceline began as a connector town for the Santa Fe Railroads, building a line from Chicago to Kansas City, because they needed to stop every 100 miles for water and coal.
By the time the Disneys arrived in 1906, it boasted 4,500 residents.
Walt Disney was actually born in Chicago, but moved to Marceline after his father wanted an escape from the troubles of city life, and even at a young age, Walt knew it was something special.
“When Walt was here, he was here at a very important time not just for him but in America and society,” said Sumner Nesbitt, operations manager for the Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline. “It was the turn of the century. So there was old technology and new technology. There was this heavy mix of motorized streetcars, and then horse drawn wagons, and electricity, and, gaslight street lamps. So it was a very impressionable time for him.”
It was where Disney experienced many firsts. Marceline was where he saw the circus for the first time, his first parade, and where he saw his very first motion picture.
“And he saw his first live stage performance,” said Kaye Malins, the museum’s executive director. “And it happened to be a traveling troupe from Stephen’s college in Columbia. And of all plays for them to do they did Peter Pan. Walt saw that for the first time here in Marceline.”
But it wasn’t just the look of Marceline or even the experiences he had that made Marceline stick with Disney. It was also the sense of community.
“We still pull together in every way,” Malins said. “We have amazing schools here. And we take care of our own, we absolutely take care of our own.”
And the residents of Marceline feel the magic of their town too.
“It’s just the people in the community that make you proud and coming from here,” said Capt. John Wright of the Marceline Police Department, “and it just carries over into everything.”
By 1911, the Disneys’ time in Marceline came to an end. His father sold their farm and moved to Kansas City where he got a job in the newspaper business.
But as Disney later wrote, it could never compare to his time in Marceline and nothing ever would again. Which is why he was motivated to immortalize the feeling of it here, as the entrance to his theme parks…
“Main Street was Walt’s representation of his childhood in Marceline. And Main Street is the only place where you can enter and exit through those parks,” Nesbitt said. “Everybody starts and ends their day on Main Street. So that’s the first thing that people see. And it’s the last thing that people see. And that’s how I like to think of all these other sections of the park coming back to Marceline.”
To Disney, Marceline was a blueprint for how life should be. It formed his fascination with animals and trains. It grounded him with a sense of freedom, happiness and community.
It was a feeling he’d try to recapture, for the rest of his life, through what he animated, what he filmed and what he built.
In celebration of what Marceline meant to him, The Walt Disney Company, their official fan club, D23, and the Walt Disney Hometown Museum is hosting a full day of events this Saturday.
Attendees will get to experience a street fair, a Main Street U.S.A. clock replica dedication, a “kiss goodnight” fireworks display and other special surprises along the way.
The festivities kick off at noon.
You can find more information on the museum’s website waltdisneymuseum.org