On this day in 1910, one of Disneyland’s very first employees and only true residents, Owen Pope, was born in Josephine, Texas. Pope, along with his wife Dolly, are the only people to ever live at and literally call Disneyland their home.
On this day in 1954, the exact location of where Disneyland would be built was revealed for the first time in a front page story by the Anaheim Bulletin along with a headline that read “Disneyland Comes Here.”
On this day in 1952, the Burbank Review newspaper ran the headline “Walt Disney Make-Believe Land Project Planned Here.” For the first time, the general public read about Walt Disney’s plan to build an amusement park and call it “Disneyland.”
Ward Kimball, a legendary animator, Academy Award winning director, Imagineering consultant, trombonist, and train enthusiast, was born on this day in 1914. As Walt Disney put it “Ward Kimball is one person that I can truly call a genius.”
On this day in 1955, Walt Disney gave the order to go ahead with the construction of Tomorrowland for Disneyland’s opening after previously putting it on hold because there wasn’t enough time.
On this day in 1955 these overhead photos were taken of the Disneyland construction site. Incredibly, the park would open just over seven months later!
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