Main Street modeled after FORT COLLINS?

[two-foxes]

DH has been checking out alot of info on the Disney Family Museum website, he is loving it. Anyways, we have heard in the past that Main Street, USA was modeled after the "Old Town" area of where we live in Colorado, but I have heard nothing "official" until this site. I have usually heard it is modeled after Walt's home town, but there is a video clip that says it was actually modeled "after a place called Fort Collins, Colorado." We were pretty jazzed to hear for sure! Pretty cool, huh??? Haper Goff, one of the designers of Main Street, used the Bank Building (in the pic below) as inspiration....he was quoted,"

"Yeah, I was born in that little town…Fort Collins, Colorado. My dad owned a newspaper there, the "Fort Collins Express Courier", and I grew up there. It was a very prosperous town. We had banks that looked like banks, you know, and there was a Victorian city hall. I was born in 1911 and these buildings were around when I was a kid. When I started working on Main Street, I had photographs of Fort Collins taken. I showed them to Walt and he liked them very much. Disneyland's City Hall was copied from Fort Collins…so was the Bank building and some of the others."

Okay, enough city pride!


Heres the link to the page....Main Street USA
Click on the "Main Street on Opening Day" link on the left for some cool video!

 

[safetymom]

I hadn't heard that story. The one I have heard is that it is modeled after a town in Missouri.

 

[two-foxes]

Completely what I thought, too. I had heard somewhere before that it was modeled after Ft Collins, but I thought that was just some small town wanting a claim to fame (our Colorado State Rams haven't gotten us too much fame yet, but our Microbrews are getting us there!) But the video on the website stated Main Street was meant to be an idealized version of Walts hometown, but it most resembles Ft Collins.

 

[ratmom]

I was under the impression that it was modeled after Walt's hometown in Missouri.

 

[disneyfan67]

I was under the impression that it was modeled after Walt's hometown in Missouri.

It was and I'll bet Walt had no idea Ft Collins looked like this. Walt modeled Main Street after his home town in Marceline Missouri. He was born in Chicago but called Marceline, home.


http://www.justdisney.com/walt_disney/biography/long_bio.html

 

[crasher11]

found this story on Mouse planet about Main street designed after Ft Collins, Colorado, heres the link

http://www.mouseplanet.com/more/mm010810.htm

 

[two-foxes]

From all I read, the inspiration is certainly Walt's home town, but the building design, etc was designed to look like Fort Collins. I am inclined to believe that Disney Family Museum website. It is sponsored by Disney (on the go.com Disney website, etc.) Whether Walt knew or not, I suppose none of us will ever know, but it seems that he did not do the conceptual design for Main Street, although he obviously would have given it his final stamp of approval, regardless of where the building design came from.

I will certainly believe it, and the next time I am sitting on a patio in Old Town enjoying a nice yummy Micro Brew, I mean iced tea (no alcohol on Main Street, of course!) it will do something to help me get a little Disney fix until my next Disney vacation!

 

[Skunker]

Okay, I am going to break into a chorus of "It's a Small World Afterall" now! You all are not going to believe this, especially you Crasher11. I was born and raised in Sterling. I now live in Longmont, and I had heard that DL's Main Street was modeled after Longmont, but the article above shows it was more likely Ft. Collins. In any case, yippee for Colorado!

 

[crasher11]

Okay, I am going to break into a chorus of "It's a Small World Afterall" now! You all are not going to believe this, especially you Crasher11. I was born and raised in Sterling. I now live in Longmont, and I had heard that DL's Main Street was modeled after Longmont, but the article above shows it was more likely Ft. Collins. In any case, yippee for Colorado!

A very small world isn't it. My DW told me last summer while we were in S. Dakota, after running into 3-4 other people we know, how small this world really is LOL. Both DW and I were born and raised in the Sterling area. Nice to see all the fellow Coloradoans on here...

 

[hjssk8]

Hello to my fellow Coloradans! It's cool for our state to have a connection to Disneyland. I think I am going to have to make a trip up to Fort Collins now from my home in Castle Rock. Truly a small world as a friend of mine in college grew up in Sterling. ( I went to school in Greeley.)

 

[crasher11]

Hello to my fellow Coloradans! It's cool for our state to have a connection to Disneyland. I think I am going to have to make a trip up to Fort Collins now from my home in Castle Rock. Truly a small world as a friend of mine in college grew up in Sterling. ( I went to school in Greeley.)

Wow Lot of us Coloradoans on here, We might have to have a DIS Meet in Ft. Collins over a Micro brew or beverage of choice and take a look at the design of Old Town compared to Main street USA. Might be rather interesting meeting everyone and sharing DL experiences . What does everyone think about that?

 

[mommagoof]

Very small world indeed, I grew up in La junta (ity bitty place) and have lived in the denver area for about 5 years now.

 

[Jessd]

Well hello to you all from Pueblo! Nice to know there are some Colorado folk here!

Jess

 

[HydroGuy]

Me too! Me too!

Just returned to Woodland Park from a four day trip to DLR!

 

[Amy&Dan]

Another person from Colorado. I need to check out Ft. Collins, haven't been there since I was about 10 I think.

 

[two-foxes]

A Dis-meet in Fort Collins would suit me just fine, too!!!! I would love to volunteer to organize it for mid Sept sometime...we leave for DLR on Sunday! Can't wait!

If you guys are interested, shoot me a PM....

 

[crasher11]

A Dis-meet in Fort Collins would suit me just fine, too!!!! I would love to volunteer to organize it for mid Sept sometime...we leave for DLR on Sunday! Can't wait!

If you guys are interested, shoot me a PM....

We wish you the best of luck and have a great Trip to DLR.. We were there in June and had the family time of our lives. My DW, first time for her and the Boys, think they pump magic gas into DL.....LOL And yes count us in for the Ft collins DIS meet.. love to share our DL secrets,experiences and take in Old Town with everyone. I see the Colorado connection keeps growing.

 

[Brina78]

I've always wondered about the history behind Main Street, why Walt chose a turn-of-the-century style theme. But, then, it was no surprise when he was born around that time, he'd want his park to resemble something he grew up in!

As the park is closing down and there's next to no crowds, you can hear the music a lot better on Main Street. A lot of times, I hear an instrumental version of "We've Got Elegance" from "Hello Dolly!" I often try to sing along even though I don't know the lyrics too well!

 

[magicmaker1]

I knew there was a reason I love Old Town!! besides the microbrews, of course. It's like a little mini Disney break! Just wait, our Rams will bring us recognition yet!

 

[Redcon1]

As the park is closing down and there's next to no crowds, you can hear the music a lot better on Main Street. A lot of times, I hear an instrumental version of "We've Got Elegance" from "Hello Dolly!" I often try to sing along even though I don't know the lyrics too well![/color]

I kept hearing "Wells Fargo Wagon" from "The Music Man" and picturing little Ronnie Howard singing it.