Walt Disney Hometown Museum facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Marceline, MO
The Walt Disney Hometown Museum, located in the former Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad depot.
Location	120 East Santa Fe Avenue, Marceline, Missouri 64658
History
Closed	May 11, 1997
Rebuilt	1913
Former services
Preceding station Amtrak Following station Carrollton toward Dallas or Houston Lone Star La Plata toward Chicago Kansas City toward Los Angeles Southwest Chief Preceding station Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Following station Rothville toward Los Angeles Main Line Bucklin toward Chicago
Walt Disney Hometown Museum Lua error in Module:Location_map at line 420: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value). Established 2001 (2001) Location 120 E. Santa Fe Avenue, Marceline, Missouri Type Hall of Memory Key holdings Walt Disney family memorabilia

The Walt Disney Hometown Museum is located in the restored Santa Fe Railroad Depot in Marceline, Missouri. Opened in 2001, the museum houses a collection of memorabilia from the Disney family's farm where they lived from 1905 to 1909 along with Walt Disney's return to the town in 1946.

Many of the items were donated by the family of Ruth Flora Disney Beecher, Walt's sister. Artifacts include personal family letters and photos, Disney's wooden school desk and a recording of him asking his parents about their life. The museum houses the only remaining components of a Disneyland ride to be operated outside of Disneyland, the Autopia. The museum also houses artifacts from the town's railroad history, including ATSF 5008, an EMD SD40 built in 1966.

In 2015, the museum launched a project to recreate the Autopia attraction that had operated in the Walt Disney Municipal Park south of town. The miniature car ride was donated by Disney when the attraction was dismantled at Disneyland. The town operated the ride from 1966 until rising insurance costs and a lack of replacement parts forced its closure in 1977. A single restored car is on display at the museum and was the centerpiece of a Kickstarter project to finance a $500,000 reconstruction of the ride, launched in July 2015.