The first thing guests see when they enter Disneyland is Main Street, U.S.A., an all-American turn-of-the-century town inspired by Walt Disney’s boyhood home of Marceline, Missouri. But in their rush to ride the Matterhorn or eat a Dole Whip, many people never notice the windows on the nostalgic buildings pay tribute to people who contributed to the development, design, storytelling, and magic of Disneyland, a tradition that dates back to the park’s opening day.
Walt personally selected the names to be painted on Main Street’s windows when the park opened on July 17, 1955. However, according to Disney Legend Marty Sklar (who has a window included in this article), Walt stated future Main Street windows would only be dedicated to someone after they retire from the company.
We’ve taken a stroll up Main Street U.S.A. and in the fourth installment of our multi-part series, we complete our “grand circle tour” with a look at the windows on the west side of Main Street, from the Fortuosity Shop to City Hall in Town Square.
- Disneyland Main Street Windows Part ONE
- Disneyland Main Street Windows Part TWO
- Disneyland Main Street Windows Part THREE
Fortuosity Shop
C.V. Patterson, W.F. Allen, D.S. Gilmore, and E.G. Upjohn – The four names on this window all have connections to Upjohn Pharmaceuticals in Kalamazoo, Michigan, including the company’s founder. The reason they’re honored at Disneyland is that the New Century Timepiece store on Main Street U.S.A. used to be Upjohn Pharmacy designed by Gilmore, a personal friend of Walt Disney’s and his neighbor at Smoke Tree Ranch (Walt’s vacation home in Palm Springs).
Did you Know? The first Storyliving by Disney community, called Cotino, will be located in the same area where Walt and his family vacationed.
Disney Legend Dave Smith – We have Smith to thank for preserving Disney’s history because he established the Walt Disney Archives in 1970. Smith’s 40-year career was dedicated to collecting and preserving millions of artifacts and documents that chronicle the Disney studio and theme parks.
Disney Legend Mary Anne Mang – Mang was the first woman appointed to a manager position at Disneyland when she became the park’s public relations manager. In addtion to her regular responsibilities, Mang developed the connection between Disneyland’s public relations and community service, when she created the company-wide Disney VoluntEARS program (why her window references the Good Neighbor Foundation).
Disney Legend Wathel Rogers – Rogers worked with Blaine Gibson on animatronics for Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln, Pirates of the Caribbean, the Haunted Mansion, and the Carousel of Progress.
Fun Fact: Rogers hand-cut gears and levers for the figures, which explains the “you’ll cut a fine figure” on his window.
Benjamin Silverstein – Sadly, you can’t make an appointment with the good doctor, as this is a fictitious name and his rhyming window is just for atmosphere.
Emporium
Elias Disney – The window paying tribute to Walt Disney’s father honors his career as a general contractor in the Midwest.
“Walt’s father worked as a contractor for most of his adult life and even though most of his businesses weren’t successful he did have one great success in life: raising his family,” our Walt’s Main Street Story Tour guide explained. “It was Elias who decided move the family to Marceline, Missouri [and] the years spent in Marceline really gave Walt his small town foundation so you could say Elias was the catalyst for the creation of Main Street U.S.A.”
You can find out how to take the tour below.
Disney Legend Claude Coats – Coats was an early member of WED who worked on Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride, the Grand Canyon Diorama, the Haunted Mansion, and Adventure Through Inner Space. He also painted sets for the original Fantasyland dark rides, created the Rainbow Caverns, and contributed to the design of Pirates of the Caribbean.
Fun Fact: Coats was 6’6,” which is the reason for his “big and tall” window reference
Disney Legend Harriet Burns –Originally hired to build sets and props for “The Mickey Mouse Club” TV show, Burns was an early Imagineer (and the first woman hired by WED) who designed and feathered the Enchanted Tiki Room birds, sculpted models for Storybook Land, and designed sets and props for The Pirates of the Caribbean, it’s a small world, and the Haunted Mansion.
Disney Legend Charles Boyer – Boyer was originally hired to create pastel portraits for guests in Fantasyland, but eventually worked his way up to the position of Disneyland’s master illustrator. He was particularly known for his Norman Rockwell-style paintings, including the famous “Self Portrait: Mickey Mouse,” which depicts Mickey painting himself as Walt.
Disneyland Firehouse
Even if you didn’t know about any of the other Main Street windows, there’s a good chance you know about the famous window over the Firehouse: Walt and Lillian Disney’s apartment. Walt often stayed in the small apartment rather than traveling all the way back to his L.A. home, and cast members would say they knew Walt was there when they saw light coming from the window. Ever since Walt passed away, a lamp is always lit in the apartment window to symbolize that Walt is always “home” at Disneyland.
During the holidays, the lamp is replaced by a tiny Christmas tree.
Visiting Walt’s apartment is on the bucket list of many Disney fans – and there aren’t many ways to get in – but one of them is by taking the Walt Disney Main Street Story tour (details below).
City Hall
Disney Legend Jack Lindquist – Disneyland’s first advertising manager who was instrumental in creating the Disney Ambassador program and introducing Disney Dollars and Disney Grad Nites, but Lindquist is best known for the idea of pouring water from oceans around the world into the Small World waterway.
Disney Legend Marty Sklar – Sklar served as president and later vice chairman and principal creative executive of Walt Disney Imagineering, but his Disney career started a month before Disneyland opened when he was recruited to create the Disneyland News, a souvenir newspaper designed to look like it was from the 1890s. Sklar later became responsible for writing Disneyland’s marketing materials, and is credited with changing the word “ride” to “attraction.” He also served as Walt’s personal writer and wrote the scripts Walt used to present his new projects to the public.
Fun Fact: Sklar’s Latin window inscription translates to “If it can be dreamed, it can be done.”
You can read our article honoring the life of Marty Sklar here:
Disney Legend Harrison “Buzz” Price – In 1953, Buzz helped Walt Disney find the Anaheim location for his new theme park. He also determined Central Florida was the perfect location for Walt Disney World and conducted site selection and feasibility studies for Tokyo Disneyland. In 1966, Walt appointed Buzz to oversee his California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) project in Valencia, for which Buzz remained a trustee for 30 years.
In Case You Missed It!
Our first article in the series included the windows on the east side of Main Street U.S.A., from the original Main Street Bank in Town Square (now the Disneyana store) to the Market House (AKA Starbucks) at the corner of Main Street and Center Street:
Hidden Tributes Revealed: The Story Behind Disneyland’s Main Street Windows (Part One)
Our second article continued down the east side of Main Street U.S.A. from Center Street (the cross street at the Market House) to the First Aid Center near Plaza Inn restaurant:
Hidden Tributes: Disneyland’s Main Street Windows Revealed (Part Two)
The third article crossed over to the west side of the street from Refreshment Corner to Carnation Café:
Hidden Tributes Revealed: The Story Behind Disneyland’s Main Street Windows (Part Three)
A great way to learn about the Main Street windows in both Anaheim and Orlando is the book by Chuck Snyder titled People Behind the Disney Parks: Stories of Those Honored With a Window on Main Street U.S.A. available on Amazon.
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Let’s Hear From You!
Thanks for joining us on our tour of the windows of Main Street U.S.A. Which window is your favorite? And which current Disney employees would you like to see honored with a Main Street window when they retire? Let us know in the comments!
This article was shot by Mike Kindrich and written by Samantha Davis-Friedman.
