Photo Courtesy of Daveland

Disneyland’s Main Street U.S.A. is the classic small town turn of the (20th) century American main street. It feels timeless and unchanging. Yet there have  been some changes–many in fact. Here are my “Top 5” Main Street changes since Opening Day, July 17, 1955.


1. Store Change #1 – Walt Disney wanted his Main Street to have the things a “real” main street would, including a cinema, city hall, a bank, a candy store, etc. For the first 15 years, part of that intent was realized with a traditional turn-of-the-century apothecary, the Upjohn Pharmacy. Antique pharmaceutical equipment lined the counter and old-fashioned medicines along the walls. Perhaps most notable was the jar of live leeches in a jar on the counter. You couldn’t buy medicines here, but they did offer free samples of all-purpose vitamins. It was where the watch shop (with a sign saying “Fortuosity” above the window) stands today.


2. While we’re on the left (west) side of the street, a stop into the Penny Arcade on Opening Day would have also given you a chance to visit the Main Street Shooting Gallery. Souvenir books from 1959 – 1962 even showed an illustration on the back of an adult handing a rifle to a child, with a caption that read, “Empty rapid-firing rifles at moving or motionless targets.” With the popularity of the Frontierland Shooting Gallery, and another one coming to Adventureland soon, guests fired their last bullet here in January of 1962.


3. Store Change #2 – When you think small-town main street, naturally one of the first stores that comes to mind is an organ shop, right? It isn’t? Well, until 1968 you could visit the Wurlitzer Organ Shop to listen to an organist perform and, if you were in the market for it, buy an organ or piano of your very own. It was on the right side of the street where the Disneyana shop is now, just before you round the corner out of Town Square.


4. The Opera House is a fixture on Main Street U.S.A. and it was there on Opening Day–at least the building was. From the outside it looked very similar to what we see today, but inside was a different story. For the first six years it was a working lumber mill, where carpenters worked on projects for other parts of the park. Not until mid-1961 did it become accessible to guests, and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln didn’t come until 1965, and at that point it finally began functioning as a theater for the first time.


5. Store Change #3 – This one’s not a change from shop to shop, but from shop to nothing. A unique storefront sits on the right (east) side of Main Street, about three-quarters of the way up. If you’ve ever stopped to sit on the porch of this former shop, you were right outside the former Intimate Apparel Shop—also known as the Corset Shop. I won’t give you the colloquial name for it, but if you’ve seen the Disneyland film inside the Opera House (hosted by Steve Martin), you’ve heard it. More than just a shop, until December of 1956 women could also learn about the history of women’s undergarments from an in-store exhibit.


These are just a few of the changes Main Street has undergone over the years. Do you want to know about more of them? Let me know in the comments below!


For you to discover: The Main Street Photo Supply Company is unique in its change. What makes it different than the stores described in this post?


You can read more from Randy on his blog, Faith and the Magic Kingdom and listen to his unofficial Disney podcast, Stories of the Magic. Find him on Twitter (@Belgarion42) and on Facebook.