Last week we had the most enjoyable visit to the Walt Disney Hometown Museum in Marceline, MO. Housed in the town's old train station, the museum hosts a variety of Disney memorabilia, artifacts, personal letters from Walt Disney and numerous story boards. What a gem! It is an exceptionally interesting stop and we learned a lot.
Although Walt Disney was born in Chicago, his family was concerned about the well-being of their children in the busy city and decided to move to a rural area in MO when he was young (in 1906). In fact, he is said to have always considered himself a Missourian. Rolling-in on the train, their family came to the open land to reside on a farm. There, young Walt's imagination began soaring as he explored, played with the animals and climbed. He even found a large old cottonwood tree in which he'd climb to dream. Dubbed the "dreaming tree", he spent hours and hours in the branches, hidden just enough to prevent his disapproving father from spotting him. If you have visited the Disney parks, you know that the tree is replicated by a realistic manmade creation. What he didn't know then was that these years would be his most formative. His time spent on the farm instilled in him a love of nature, creativity and artistic ability.
 |
| This is a photo of a postcard we bought, depicting the tree. |
One section of the museum is filled with memorabilia donated by individuals outside the Disney family.
Other sections outline Disney's life and share family mementos.
Marceline's Main Street was the vision behind Main Street in Walt Disneyland and Walt Disney World.
As if the museum tour wasn't wonderful enough on its own merits, a bonus was our docent who personally knew Walt Disney and his wife. The docent and her husband became good friends with them over a span of ten years. In the mid-50s when Mr. and Mrs. Disney returned to Marceline to participate in the dedication of the town's new swimming pool (named for him), they stayed with our docent and her family as their home was the only one in the community to have central air. Everyone wanted the Disneys to remain cool and comfortable in the humid MO July weather, so the town decided who would host them!
The accounts and tales she shared were fascinating. For example, there was the time that Walt decided to exercise his artistic hand by painting on the side of the family's home with tar. He knew he could do it. What he failed to understand was that tar couldn't be removed from the side of the house!
When the Disneys had to leave town, they sold their 45 acre farm, all of the animals and their home. Another farmer purchased it and business carried-on for many years. What ultimately happened to the parcel of land and buildings? Our docent's daughter and son-in-law bought the farm and they remain there today.
We love spots off the beaten path. If you ever have occasion to make your way off the path and into Marceline, we strongly encourage you to stop and spend some time. Go through the museum, walk the sleepy streets of the original Main Street USA and imagine what it was like in the early 1900s. Then thank the people of this little town for sharing Walt's early years with the rest of us!
