Protecting the Magic of Marceline

I was recently invited to speak at the Linn County Democrats meeting in Marceline. If you have not been to Marceline yourself, you need to go with your family!

Did you know Marceline is Walt Disney’s boyhood hometown? Marceline celebrates Disney’s life with the fantastic Walt Disney Hometown Museum located in the beautiful old rail depot building. Visitors can also walk down the original Main Street USA, which inspired Walt’s creation at his theme parks. My wife Carly and I got to visit Ripley Park and see the trains. We stopped by the Midget Autopia, which Walt had gifted the children of the town. We also couldn’t miss Ma Vic’s Corner Café – an essential stop in Marceline for a ‘Dusty Miller’. If you like sweet treats, get yourself a Dusty Miller!

Marceline meant a great deal to Walt Disney, and it’s easy to see why. The city is smaller than its peak population decades ago, but today, it is showing signs of new industry and growing businesses. There is promise and potential in rural Missouri, but there are also challenges to ensure every town in the 6th District has the resources it needs to best serve the people.

For example, the hospital in Marceline has been closed and abandoned for a long time, with only a small wing of the original chapel and hospital still being used today as a 911 dispatch center. The rest of the facility sits abandoned. The lack of accessible healthcare in Marceline does not just affect those on Medicare, but also young families. It is approximately a 90-minute drive from Marceline to the nearest hospital or birthing center. How do we expect to provide the opportunity for rural cities to sustain a population for the future if there are no hospitals nearby to deliver a baby? This is 2025 in America, and the lack of healthcare in our rural areas is unacceptable and must be a focus of our government.

Small towns like Marceline make up the heart of Missouri’s 6th Congressional District. We need representation in Washington who supports our small towns, not like our current representative who is voting to cut healthcare across the country.