Childhood
Walter Elias Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Chicago, Illinois to Elias and Flora Call Disney, being one out of four boys and a girl. However, he spent most of his childhood in Marceline, Missouri. From an early age, Disney’s mother and brother encouraged him to pursue his interest in art and photography. In 1911, his family moved to Kansas City where Disney also developed a love for trains and still kept up his interest in art and photography. Disney attended McKinley high school in Chicago where he took drawing and photography classes while also taking classes at the Chicago Art Institute. When he was 16 he dropped out of high school to enlist in the army but was rejected because he was underage. So he instead joined the Red Cross and went to France for a year where he drove an ambulance.