One day back in 1951, Harper Goff, a Fort Collins artist, was shopping in London when he stopped to admire a model train set. A second gentleman, with whom Goff struck up a conversation, was also admiring the model train. This serendipitous meeting and the relationship it began, were, in part, responsible for the architectural aesthetic of Main Street, USA, the gateway to Disneyland Park. Goff’s new acquaintance was none other than Walt Disney, and this chance meeting led first to Goff being hired by Walt Disney, and then to Goff eventually being charged with creating what is now Main Street, USA. According to an article published at the Fort Collins History Connection website,
In 1994, Richard Francaviglia, author of Main Street Revisited (University of Iowa Press, 1996), called Rheba Massey at the Local History Archive to perform research on his book. Mr. Francaviglia had been to the Disneyland Archives to perform research and much to his surprise he found out that Harper Goff, a former resident of Fort Collins, had used Fort Collins and Walt Disney’s hometown, Marceline, Missouri as an inspiration and models for Disneyland’s Main Street USA.
So, next time you visit Disneyland, pay attention to the buildings on Main Street. You may get a sense that you’ve seen them, or maybe even been there, before.
For more information:
http://history.fcgov.com/archive/legends/disney.php