The first Post Office was established in Marceline in 1888. It relocated five times over the years, including a temporary location behind the Zurcher building, before permanently settling in its present location in June 1938.
Shortly after Walt Disney’s death in December of 1966, the citizens of Marceline lobbied the United States Postal Department to issue a commemorative stamp in his honor. Usually a minimum time of ten years must pass before a commemorative stamp can be issued in anyone's honor, except for U.S. Presidents, which don't require the ten year waiting period. But there was significant interested in a Walt Disney stamp, so the process was expedited, (no pun intended, haha - post office humor). In 1968, the United States Postal Service announced that a Walt Disney stamp would be issued! All cities that had ties to Walt Disney vied to be the special location for the first day of issue. In addition to Marceline, these were Burbank and Anaheim California, Kansas City Missouri and Chicago Illinois. Walt Disney’s wife Lillian lobbied hard to have Marceline selected. Students from our Walt Disney Elementary School sent letters to the Postmaster General and finally Marceline was confirmed for the location of the celebration!
Walt Disney Commemorative Stamp Day took place at the Marceline Post Office on September 11, 1968. It was the biggest event in Marceline history up to that time. In attendance were Disney family members, politicians, foreign representatives from 71 countries, and movie stars. The crowd was said to have been almost 10,000 people.
The Disney family and other honored guests arrived for the postage stamp ceremonies on the Santa Fe Railway Super Chief renamed the “Walt Disney Special”. Disney family members included Walt’s wife Lillian, his brother Roy and wife Edna, and Walt’s daughters Diane Disney Miller and Sharon Disney Lund and their children.
Also in attendance were Walt Disney Commemorative Stamp designers and artists Paul Wenzel and Disney Legend Bob Moore along with their families. The stamp represents Walt Disney with a line of “it’s a small world”-styled children coming out of a silhouette of Disneyland’s Sleeping Beauty Castle on the edge of a sphere. The portrait of Walt Disney was illustrated by Paul Wentzel, while the children and the castle were illustrated by Bob Moore.
The celebration included a parade down main street, introductions, and speeches on this most memorable day. A brass plaque at the entrance of the Post Office honors this event.
On November 11, 2003 the United States Congress voted to rename the Marceline Post Office in honor of Walt Disney. The dedication of the Walt Disney Post Office took place on August 23, 2004 in a shared celebration with the first issuance of The Art of Disney Stamp Series. To everyone's surprise and delight, Mickey Mouse was delivered in a mail truck along with 2,500 pieces of cake, all decorated with the stamp designs of The Art of Disney's first stamp series, the Friendship Collection.
As part of the celebration, Mickey planted the Ben Franklin tree that currently grows in front of the Post Office. Ben Franklin was the very first Postmaster General and put in place the foundation for many aspects of today’s mail system. The Ben Franklin Tree has been extinct in the wild since the early 19th century, but survives as a cultivated ornamental tree.
If you step inside the lobby of the post office, you will see photos celebrating Stamp Day. There is also an enlarged Walt’s commemorative stamp along with Disney Character stamps that were issued for the Walt Disney Post Office dedication. In the service counter area is a mural commissioned as part of the 1930s Federal Arts Projects and depicts Marceline’s economy of the times.
I highly recommend stopping by our post office during regular business hours. (swing by the museum first to pick out a post card) Take your post card in and one of our postal workers will hand stamp your post card with a one-of-a-kind cancellation. You can only get this custom hand cancellation in Marceline at the Walt Disney Post Office. It is an image of young Walt and Ruth under the dreaming tree on the Disney Farm.
