Friday, September 16, 2011

Snapshot Missouri! - Kansas Avenue U.S.A.

 

It is a Disney historical fact.  The concept for Main Street U.S.A., as it was initially conceived for Disneyland, and then subsequently exported to Disney Parks in Florida, Tokyo, Paris and Hong Kong, was based directly on Marceline, Missouri, Walt's boyhood hometown.  The notable irony to this is that, unlike so many other small towns across the Midwest and the entire U.S.A., there is in fact no Main Street in Marceline.

Marceline's equivalent primary thoroughfare is Kansas Avenue.  The residents however have sought to clarify the Disney connection as reflected in this Snapshot of a Marceline street clock and signpost.

3 comments:

  1. Rob Herndon Jr9/16/2011 9:53 PM

    Isn't there also a story that Main Street USA is based on Harper Goff's hometown of Ft. Collins, Colorado? Or is that just supposition?

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  2. Anonymous9/25/2011 7:26 AM

    The idea of Main Street, U.S.A., came out of Walt's nostalgia for his hometown of Marceline, but the buildings themselves are not based on actual structures in Marceline. Many were, however, based on actual structures in Fort Collins (among other places).

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  3. Nate Parrish9/30/2011 10:10 AM

    I think its kind of split. Without looking at buildings in Fort Collins, I know that the Movie house and the Zurcher building in Marceline are pretty similar to their counterparts in Disneyland.

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