100 West Broadway Street Marceline Missouri, 64658
Please step this way as we head to the quaint town of Marceline, Missouri and explore a rarely seen historic location - the former Disney family home (1906 - 1911)! Walt Disney spent the formative years of his childhood here, experiencing rural life on a farm in Marceline, in Lynn County, Missouri. Walt continued to carry with him the fond memories of this farmhouse and the community it was nestled in. As we tour the residence today, you’ll note many antiques throughout the home. Though we don’t have time to examine each one, I would like you to know that many of the possessions were donated sometime after 1998 by individuals like Walt’s sister Ruth Beecher (while others are family heirlooms of the current caretaker and owner). Some of the stories you will hear today were passed along by the Disneys to Rush and Inez, who in turn shared them with their daughter (who currently owns this historic house). Now let’s explore the former Disney abode and a few tales associated with its residents. Your personal tour of the Marceline Disney Family Home begins HERE!
“Once upon a time there was a Little House way out in the country…”
Just how did Elias, Flora and their family come to reside in such a small, recently established farm community so far out in the middle of the country? It just so happened that Walt’s uncle Robert Disney owned a successful ‘flour, feed, and poultry’ business in Marceline. Robert was also a land speculator, and amongst his holdings was a parcel of land just outside the city line of Marceline, Missouri. When his brother Elias shared the news that his family would be moving from their crime infested neighborhood of Chicago in 1905, it was Robert who suggested the newly formed Santa Fe division point as a potential destination to set up house. Elias was deeply interested in protecting his family from certain negative influences, as well as teaching his children the value of hard work and living a simple life.
The matter was decided, and Elias and Flora soon heeded Robert’s advice and purchased their 40-acre farmstead only a few miles away from his own original property. Elias paid $3000 in installments for the 40-acre farm and house (previously owned by a Civil War veteran named William Crane). Walt recollected: “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.” Just one passing glimpse of the unchanging property today confirms Walt’s observation made more than a hundred years ago!
During a visit in 1956, Walt and Roy reminisce of happier days from beneath their “Dreaming Tree” in the backyard of the old Disney Family Farm. Photograph image may be subject to copyright.
Of that day they departed for Marceline, Roy later recalled: "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."
Though the Disneys held many possessions and amenities from their life in the city, things were to be very different in the country. The Disneys had no electricity or running water in this home. Flora had to draw water from the kitchen pump in order to cook and clean. Growing and preparing the food they ate was a chore in itself. The family had a smokehouse for curing meat. They used coal from the nearby mine for stove fuel.
You might have heard of how Walt painted on the side of the family farmhouse with black pitch and talked his sister Ruth into adding “zigzags” by promising that it would come right off. It was on this side of the home where it occurred. Walt remembered, “I wasn’t thanked by the family for my efforts.”
When they weren’t attending class, Walt and Ruth shared many adventures around the farmhouse, their “Dreaming tree”, the barn, the swimming hole and the cotton fields. After creating many memories over the course of five years, Walt’s time on the farm came to an abrupt end when his father purchased a paper route in Kansas City and the entire family was moved during the summer of 1911.
Though Walt was busy building an entertainment empire over the next two decades, he longed for the people and pace of his beloved hometown. Over the years, Walt managed to make a couple of trips back to Marceline. It was in 1956 during the dedication of Walt Disney Swimming Pool, that he struck up a friendship with two of Marceline’s prominent residents - Rush and Inez Johnson. The couple extended hospitality to the Disneys by hosting Walt, Lillian, Roy, and Edna in their air-conditioned house). It was on this trip (during 1956), that Walt first vocalized his interests in a top-secret Marceline project.
“Once again she was lived in and taken care of”
The current ownership and gentle care of the house owes itself to the healthy friendship that developed between the Johnsons and Disneys over the years. The Johnsons continued to open their home to the Disneys, and Walt even had the opportunity to return the generosity by personally welcoming and hosting the Johnsons in his magic kingdom. After Walt’s prompting, the Johnson’s daughter Kaye later applied for a career at Disneyland which she held for many years.
When Walt was planning the aforementioned top-secret project in Marceline, he had Rush Johnson purchase his family’s old property and house for safe keeping. Then, RETLAW briefly purchased and owned the property for a spell, but after Walt’s passing the project never moved forward. At that point, Roy sold the property back to Rush and Inez Johnson.
After a satisfying period with Disneyland, the Johnson’s daughter Kaye longed for Marceline and decided to move back home. Now, Kaye’s father inquired whether she would like to live in the old Disney family house. Happily, Kaye agreed and has lived here for 40 years now, even raising a family within the same walls where Walt once spent his formative years.
“The ‘Little House’ Gets a Facelift”
In remodeling the former Disney family home, Kaye Malins (Walt Disney Hometown Museum Director) built the current house around the original structure - leaving the crooked doors and frames, flooring, knobs, and other original and antique features intact.
The current living room was originally divided into two rooms by a partition, which was removed about the 1930s. One of the rooms was a bedroom where the older Disney boys (Herbert and Raymond) lived. Herbert and Raymond didn’t want to leave Chicago in 1906, and they really didn’t like farming. In interview Walt once mentioned that Elias was a “tough task master,” making his boys work very hard. Regardless, one year Herbert and Raymond produced a whopping $175 from planting acreage and harvesting their own crops. One of the boys purchased a suit from Murray’s and both bought themselves gold watches for $20 apiece at Zurchers. They had planned to buy a heifer and a colt with the rest of the money, but their father demanded they help pay farm debts. Disappointed, Walt’s older brothers withdrew their money from the bank, slipped out a window and boarded a train for Chicago.
It was then that Walt’s childhood ended because he and Roy had to help out with the farming. Shortly after, Elias fell ill and despite the return of Herbert and Raymond, Elias had to sell the farm. This was a sad time for Walt because they had to leave the farm, animals, and other things that they enjoyed about the country life in Marceline. This very window you see before you was once part of Herbert and Raymond’s bedroom, and may be that very window they slipped out during the middle of the night! Please CLICK the following image, to explore a few photographs of the site of Herbert and Raymond Disney’s former bedroom.
Before we head upstairs, please direct your attention to the dining area, and the kitchen door on the left. You might recall that the Disneys had no electricity in the home. Instead candles and oil lamps were utilized for lighting in the dining room. When preparing a meal or cleaning, Flora had to draw water from the kitchen pump in order to cook and clean. Please feel free to CLICK on the following image and explore this room before continuing our tour!
When Ruth saw the dining room decades later, she mentioned that it looked just the way she remembered it - “even that crooked doorframe.” The room also includes the old flue from the wood burning stove that would be used to warm the whole room. Subsequent owners hadn’t even changed these aspects of the century-old house! Ruth recalled the stove in the home as she recollected contracting chicken pox one year. To remedy Ruth, Flora wrapped her in a blanket and sat her down next to the wood stove to try and “bring the pox out.”
The first room we come to at the top of the stairs, is Elias and Flora’s former bedroom. Please feel free to explore this room by CLICKING on the following image.
The Disney family moved a lot over the years. None of their furniture was left behind in the Marceline house. When the Disney family house was being restored, many individuals made gestures toward the project. A kind benefactor (who shall be unnamed) approached Kaye and gifted the bedframe to her. Walt’s sister Ruth Beecher visited during this period, and when stepping into the room, she recognized the bed as the same type that she, Walt, and Roy slept in -inside this very bedroom! Ruth also mentioned that the top of the bedpost was easily removed, and that she and Walt would hide their stories inside. An elderly Ruth reached for the brass knob and removed it from the bedframe. There weren’t any “stories” inside, but these events likely verify her remarks about the bed. Please CLICK on the following image in order to explore Walt and Ruth’s bedroom, and former bed frame model.
As mentioned, the house received an addition over the years. We’ll explore these rooms briefly now.
Please watch your step as we head into the next portion of the house. These additions (including Kaye’s office were added onto the house decades after the Disneys lived here. The overhead support beams came from a local 150-year-old barn that was being torn down in Marceline. The following rooms are full of family antiques - like large bellows belonging to Kaye’s great-great-grandfather which adorn one wall!
The new addition features a magnificent trophy room belonging to Kaye Malin’s late husband Wally!
The home even features a small enclosed veranda!
The little house has continued to receive recognition over the years. The home has been featured in a few documentaries and short films. D23 : The Official Fan Club has hosted multiple events in Marceline, which include a visit to the old Disney house. In addition, there are countless tourists who drive through the town of Marceline, in order to take photographs of the historic residence from the photo spot outside.
Mickey and friends flew in from Disneyland, on a number of occasions like Walt’s 100th birthday party (celebrated in 2001), and The Spirit of Mickey premier (in 1998). Here Mickey and friends tour the former Marceline Disney home, and pose for a photograph. (Left to right) Pluto, Goofy, Snow White, and Mickey Mouse!
When we reflect on the current state of the humble Disney home of Marceline, we are reminded of the closing dialogue of The Little House (1952): “It wasn't the end at all - it was just the beginning! Oh, it took a little time and a lot of fixing but all that really mattered is that she’d found someone. Or rather, they’d found her - someone to love and cherish her, someone who knew the best place to find peace and happiness is in a little house, on a little hill, way out in the country!”
PLAN YOUR VISIT TO MARCELINE TODAY! Please remember to respect the residents of this private residence. For more information, please contact The Walt Disney Hometown Museum.