Walt Disney's Kansas City - Clio

Entries on This Tour

1. Walt Disney's Family Home

From 1914 to 1921, this house was home to the family of world famous film animator Walt Disney. It was here that Disney first developed a passion for entertaining and an interest in cartooning. Walt set up a makeshift art studio in the garage where he used a borrowed motion picture camera to experiment with different animation techniques, creating what became the first Laugh-O-gram shorts and the start of his success. Various members of the Disney family occupied the residence until November 1921, when Walt’s father sold the house. Today, it remains a private residence and is not open to the public. The house and garage were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1977.

2. D.A. Holmes School (Formerly Benton Grammar School)

Benton Grammar School was completed in 1904 and its role of former students include Academy Award winner Ginger Rogers and pioneering animator and entertainment mogul Walt Disney. Disney recalled fond memories of his time at the school, and some claim that he drew early versions of cartoons in the margins of his notebook while at this school that included animals, perhaps part of his inspiration for later characters such as Mickey Mouse. The school started with twelve rooms but quickly expanded to 20 as it needed to serve all 1,300 students enrolled in 1921. A school for white children only for most of its years of operation, school officials made the decision to transition to African American students in 1953, a reflection of changes in residential patterns in the latter years of legally enforced school segregation.1953 also saw a new name, as Benton Grammar School became D.A. Holmes School, named after a local pastor and civil rights activist. The school would continue to serve the area until 1997, when it closed. The building is now home to D.A. Holmes Senior Apartments.

3. Laugh-O-gram Films Studio

Laugh-O-gram Films was Walt Disney’s first professional animation studio, incorporated on May 23, 1922. It operated out of a suite of offices on the second floor of the newly-finished McConahay Building. Walt Disney and his animation team created satirical fairy tale shorts using stop motion and live action, calling them Laugh-O-grams. However, the studio quickly began to struggle financially. For a brief time, Disney lived in the Laugh-O-gram studio and met a brave little mouse living in his desk that would later be the inspiration for Mickey Mouse. Laugh-O-gram Films filed for bankruptcy in July 1923 and Disney left for Hollywood with $40 and unfinished footage of “Alice’s Wonderland.” Several of Disney’s partners from Laugh-O-gram followed, becoming the pioneers of the Golden Age of Animation. Today, the McConahay Building is owned by the non-profit group Thank You, Walt Disney Inc. who saved the deteriorating building from demolition. They are working to restore the building, creating an interactive learning space and the first landmark in Kansas City honoring Walt Disney and the legacy he started here.

4. KayCee Studio (1921-1922)

In November 1921 while still employed at Kansas City Film Ad Service, Walt Disney opened KayCee Studio as a private cartooning studio on the second level of the building that once stood at this location. With his Film Ad co-worker Fred Harman, Disney sought after teenage interns who were interested in learning cartooning and employed several other men who would later become influential to the Golden Age of Animation. Here they started their first full-story cartoon short, Little Red Riding Hood. KayCee Studio changed locations several times before Walt quit the Film Ad Company in the spring of 1922 and closed when he incorporated Laugh-O-gram Films that May. The building once located here was demolished by the city in the early 1990s.

5. 31st & Troost Avenue Mural

Designed by The Troost Folks Organization and painted by local artist Alexander Austin, this 100-foot mural at 31st & Troost celebrates the neighborhood's rich history. It was commissioned by The Troost Folks, sponsors of Troost Avenue Festivals and unveiled on Labor Day in 2006. It includes a tribute to the Osage Tribe, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Walt Disney, and the iconic Isis Theatre which once operated at this corner. As the area around Troost continues to change over time, the mural offers recognition of the diverse people who called the area home and serves as a symbol of community efforts to create new opportunities.

6. Isis Theatre (1918-1970)

Operating from 1918 to 1970, this location was once the site of Isis Theatre housed in the Wirthman Building and operated by Fox Studios. The extravagant Egyptian style theater was nicknamed by the media “The Irresistible” and was considered by many at the time to be the finest theater outside of downtown. Notable musician Carl Stalling played the organ for silent films in the theater's early years, including some of Walt Disney’s animated shorts that were produced by Laugh-O-gram Films in the early 1920s. Disney also used the theatre to promote the Laugh-O-gram studio, with footage captured during a South Central Business Association parade. Notable music composer Carl Stalling was the theater's organist and became friends with Disney, which sparked a working relationship with Laugh-O-gram Films and Disney Brothers years later. When several months of backdated rent was due to thenearby McConahay building, Disney packed up and moved the Laugh-O-gram studio into the Wirthman Building, where he spent one month before leaving for California. By the late 1960s, this stretch of Troost Avenue was suffering from years of disinvestment and neglect from city leaders, and the theater closed in 1970. The theater remained vacant until the Wirthman Building was razed in 1997. It is now the site of a surface parking lot and a busy public bus stop.

7. Kansas City Film Ad Service (est. 1920)

Employer to Walt Disney and producers of movie theater advertisements, the Kansas City Slide Company moved from 1015 Central to this location in early 1920. By this time, the growing company had advanced techniques of production from glass slides to animation. To reflect the change, the Slide Company began going by Kansas City Film Ad Service. In 1924, owner A. V. Cauger added on to the building and incorporated the company as United Film Ad Service. Due to challenges caused by the depression, he sold his interest in the early 1930s. Over the years, Cauger employed several other men alongside Disney who would become famed animators and producers years later, in Hollywood’s Golden Age of Animation. This building has since been razed and is now a private parking lot.

8. Walt Disney and Union Station

From the time Walt Disney’s family moved to Kansas City in 1911 until the young animator left for California in 1923, Disney’s path often led him to and through Kansas City’s train stations. Walt arrived at Union Depot in the West Bottoms in 1911, and he departed Kansas City in 1923 from Union Station with a dream, a film, and not much else in his suitcase. This building played an important role in Walt’s life, from welcoming and saying goodbye to family members to one of his first jobs selling sodas and newspapers to passengers. Union Station shaped many of Walt's early memories in Kansas City influencing Disney productions and theme parks in surprising ways.

9. Kansas City Slide Company (1913-1920); Kirk Building, Crossroads Academy

Constructed in 1908, this building is historically known as the location of the Kansas City Slide Company, where famed animator Walt Disney worked as a cartoon artist. The Kansas City Slide Company occupied this site from 1913 to 1920, moving locations shortly after Disney was hired. In 1925 the building was expanded, but like many structures in the area, deferred maintenance caused the building to become dilapidated. As a champion for downtown Kansas City revitalization, local real estate developer Phil Kirk purchased and renovated the building in 1983. Years later, Kirk leased the building at $1 per month for a newly established charter school, Crossroads Academy, which continues to occupy the site since 2012.

10. Newman Theatre (1919-1972)

Built in 1919 for local exhibitor Frank L. Newman, the Newman Theatre was known for its opulence and extravagant features. It was the biggest and most costly of any Kansas City theatre at the time, holding an audience of 2,000. Notably, in 1921 a series of short satirical cartoons called Newman Laugh-O-grams were screened, which were the first animated productions created solely by Walt Disney. The Newman became Paramount Theater in 1947 and operated for a short time as Towne Theater before eventually closing due to a decline in business. It was demolished in 1972 for an urban renewal project and today, is the site is occupied by a skyscraper called the Lightwell Building.

11. YWCA and the Fine Arts Institute of Kansas City (1911-1927)

This site was once the location of the YWCA Building, constructed in 1911. The Fine Arts institute of Kansas City, now known as the Kansas City Art Institute operated out of this location in offices on the 6th floor for many years. It was here in 1915, that famed animator Walt Disney had his first formal art instruction while attending Saturday art classes. The building was razed for an urban renewal project and is now the site of a surface parking lot.

12. Kessler Building (1919); Iwwerks-Disney Commercial Artists (1920)

Now known as the Kessler Building, this historic Kansas City structure was initially known as the Mutual Building when it was completed in 1919. Built for Charles L. Merry, owner of the Merry Optical Company, the seven-story Sullivanesque structure was designed by J. C. Sunderland. The building was the location of Walt Disney's first art studio, a modest venture funded by money Walt saved from his time with the Red Cross in France. Walt and his new friend Ubbe Iwwerks started Iwwerks-Disney Commercial Artists in January 1920. Initially, the studio was successful and they moved from a bathroom and shared space in this building to an office in the Railway Exchange Building. By March, Walt needed to take a job at Kansas City Slide Company and Iwwerks-Disney was struggling with Ubbe balancing his time with paid work as well. Ubbe joined Walt at KC Slide Co. because he needed funds to support his mother, and the Iwwerks-Disney studio dissolved.

13. L. B. Price Mercantile Company Building (1904-1999); Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio

Built in 1904 for the L. B. Mercantile Company, this three-story brick commercial building was razed in 1999 for a downtown development project and is now occupied by a surface parking lot. The Pesmen-Rubin Commercial Art Studio was located inside the L.B. Price Mercantile Company Building, operated out of Gray Advertising Company, one of the many growing advertising agencies in Kansas City at the time. This small studio within the advertising company was operated by local artists Louis Pesmen and Bill Rubin, and they hired a young Walt Disney in October 1919. The occasion marked Disney's first job as an illustrator, producing artwork for some of Gray's clients, including local theaters and farm supply companies. A temporary job by design, it had a lasting impact on the world of animation as it was here that Walt Disney met Ubbe Iwwerks, a lifelong collaborator who helped bring Mickey Mouse and many other Disney characters to life.

This Tour is a Thematic Tour or Heritage Trail.

Walt Disney's Kansas City

Created by Nichole Stahly on October 21st 2021, 12:57:00 am.

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Description

This thematic driving tour explores notable locations related to Walt Disney's years in Kansas City and his early life as an animator before making it big in Hollywood. It includes Disney’s childhood home, where he worked out of the garage, as well as several former companies where Disney acquired experience. Highlights of the tour include the building that served as the headquarters of Walt Disney's first animation studio, Laugh-O-Gram Films. Disney first moved to Missouri with his family in 1906. After running a small farm near rural Marceline, in 1911, the Disney’s moved to Kansas City, where Walt took classes at the Kansas City Art Institute and discovered a love for cartooning. In the fall of 1919, just before his 18th birthday, Disney got his first job in the industry at Pesmin-Rubin Commercial Art Studio. He spent the next two-and-a-half years gaining experience and advancing his skills. In May of 1922, Disney incorporated his first animation studio, Laugh-O-gram Films, which operated until he left for California in the summer of 1923. Walt Disney was not only a man with artistic talent but also tremendous ambition and innovative ideas. During his time in Kansas City, Disney learned to develop his business acumen while also learning to recognize talent in others. When he started Laugh-O-gram Films, Disney recruited several men he had worked with at other art studios. Once in California, many of them followed and went on to become some of the leading names in the Golden Age of Animation.

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