FEATURE EXHIBIT Walt and Roy’s 1956 Return to Marceline “On the evening of July 4, approximately 6,000 persons from Marceline and surrounding communities were attracted to the new Walt Disney Municipal Park located just south of the Marceline country Club,” stated the Marceline News on the front page of its July 6, 1956 edition. The event: The dedication of the $78,500 swimming pool and the appearance of Marceline’s old-time resident, Walt Disney. This visit by Walt and his brother Roy to their boyhood hometown, Marceline, was captured in a memorable film, which is featured in this month's Walt Disney Family Museum. Walt’s public appearance was, typically, humble. “It is particularly thrilling to see this fine swimming pool here because when I was a kid here in Marceline we swam in a cow pasture pond – after we chased the cows out.” The first night after Walt’s arrival, there was a reception at the Santa Fe Country Club. Though the Disneys had arrived late in the day, they still wanted to tour around the city to see some particularly memorable spots: the farm, the train depot and so on. As they toured around, it appeared to observers that Walt was more excited than Roy by the sites. This is hardly surprising, given the natural personalities of the two men – but it’s fair to speculate that Roy recalled Marceline as the scene of back-breaking work on the farm, while Walt’s memories were more of an idyllic life full of animals and friendly neighbors. The family left Marceline when Walt was only nine. One of the places the Disney brothers visited was the old family farm on which there were two cottonwood trees. The two men crossed a barbed wire fence – a relatively easy task for men from farm country – but no mean feat for two men who were wearing suits and ties. “It got some compliments from everyone watching,” recalled one observer, “what a good job they did in crossing the fence and not getting hung up on it.” For more about Walt’s time in Marceline, please visit From Chicago to Marceline in “Walt’s Inside Story.”