Have you ever wondered where Walt Disney’s inspiration for the enchanting world of Disneyland came from? Look no further than Marceline, Missouri, the charming town that shaped the dreams and imagination of the legendary Walt Disney himself. Nestled on a 40-acre farm, the Disney family farm in Marceline holds the key to understanding the origins of Walt’s magical creations.
The story of the Disney family farm begins in 1906, when Elias Disney, Walt’s father, decided to move his family from the bustling (and crime-infested) city of Chicago to the peaceful countryside of Marceline. Elias was drawn to Marceline by the prospect of and desire for a simpler and safer life, as well as the opportunity to instill in his children the values of hard work and a love for nature.
With the help of Walt’s uncle Robert Disney, who owned a successful flour, feed, and poultry business in Marceline, the family acquired a 40-acre farmstead just outside the city limits. The land came with a house perfect for the young family. The farm cost $3,000, which Elias paid off in installments. It had previously been owned by a Civil War veteran named William Crane.
Walt Disney vividly remembered the day his family arrived in Marceline when he was only a wee child of four years old. They were greeted by Mr. Coffman, who took them to their new home in the country. Walt recalled,
“I went with my family to live in Marceline when I was four years old…I clearly remember the day we arrived there on the train. A Mr. Coffman met us in his wagon, and we rode out to our house in the country just outside city limits. I believe it was called the Crane Farm. My first impression of it was that it had a beautiful front yard.“
Little did he know that this picturesque farm would become the backdrop for some of his most cherished childhood memories and the birthplace of his creative spirit.
Walt’s brother Roy also had clear memories of the day the family moved to their new home. He said in an interview:
“We left Chicago for the farm in 1906, April. My father and older brothers went down with a boxcar full of our household furniture and two horses that Dad had bought in Chicago. My mother and my little sister – who was two years younger than Walt – and Walt and I went down by the Santa Fe train.”
Living in the country—and Marceline was quite rural in those days—was entirely different from what the Disneys had known in Chicago. For one, there was no electricity or running water in the house. They had to pump water from the kitchen sink by hand and use a coal stove for warmth and for cooking meals. The coal had to be purchased from a local mine. They even had to grow their own food, which was a chore all its own.
Walt’s two older brothers, Herbert and Raymond Disney, did not enjoy farm life, having essentially grown to young adulthood in the city. When their father demanded they help him pay some of the farm’s bills after they earned a substantial sum from growing and selling their own crops on the farm, the pair withdrew all their earnings from the bank, snuck out of their bedroom window, and took a train back to Chicago.
Walt cultivated his love of nature and his whimsical imagination here. Along with his sister, Ruth, he often spent blissful time drawing, writing stories, and daydreaming under a large tree on the farm he called his “dreaming tree.” After his older brothers left the farm, though, Walt and Roy had to leave the remainder of their childhoods behind and help out on the farm by taking over the chores left vacant by Herbert and Raymond.
Perhaps the stress of farm life without his older sons to help him got to Elias Disney, or perhaps it was just a sad twist of fate, but Elias became ill shortly after the older boys left the farm. Even though the prodigal sons did go back to the farm to help, Elias just couldn’t keep up with farm life anymore. In 1911, he sold the farm and moved the family to Kansas, where he had purchased a paper route. Walt was sad to leave the farm, along with the animals and country life he’d grown to love so much, but he never forgot about it. In fact, Main Street USA at the Disney theme parks was modeled after Walt’s beloved hometown of Marceline.
Walt also visited Marceline whenever he was able. On a visit there in 1956, Walt met and struck up a friendship with two prominent Marceline residents, Rush and Inez Johnson. The Johnsons hosted Walt, Roy, and their respective wives in their air-conditioned Marceline home, and their daughter Kaye, at Walt’s urging, took a job at Disneyland. It is thanks to this friendship that the former Disney family farm and home still exists in such a well-preserved condition today.
Walt had a top-secret project for Marceline in mind, a project he first envisioned on the visit where he met the Johnsons. The farm had had many other owners over the decades since the Disneys moved from it. In order to keep it safe for his project, Walt asked the Johnsons to buy it, which they did. They eventually sold it to Roy Disney, but after Walt crossed over and it was clear his Marceline project was not going to happen, Roy sold the house back to the Johnsons.
It was around that time that Kaye Johnson, after a nice career at Disneyland, was longing for the home comforts of Marceline. Her father asked her if she would like to live in Walt’s old family home upon her return to town, and she accepted this generous offer. She has lived there and has been its guardian and caretaker ever since.
While Kaye has remodeled the house somewhat, including adding a couple of rooms, she has been careful to keep its antique and unique features intact. She raised her own family there, giving a new generation the joys of the simple life in Marceline. While the house is still privately owned by her and used as her home, she does recognize its importance to Disney enthusiasts around the world.
Kaye occasionally lets the house be used for films, documentaries, and private tours. She also added a special photographing area outside the house, so the throngs of visitors to Marceline who are seeking out a bit of the spark that illuminated Walt Disney’s storied imagination can get a picture of the house that inspired a kingdom.