On a winter day in 1920, a census taker knocked on a door in Kansas City. The home owner was a 31-year-old U.S. Postal Carrier, Herbert Disney. An 18-year-old cartoon artist — Herbert’s younger brother — lived at that house, too. His name? Walter E. “Walt” Disney.
Walt Disney founded Disney, built theme parks, won 22 Oscars (most for any individual). He amassed a fortune of approximately $100-$150 million by the time he died in 1966 — $750 million-$1.1 billion in 2023. But in 1920, he was in and out of work as a cartoonist and illustrator for advertisements. At home, he messed around with a camera and animation books.
If you mailed the young Walt Disney in 1921, he might have sent you back an envelope with his self-portrait.
Walt left his brother’s humble Kansas City rental in 1923 (age 21) and headed to Los Angeles. He and his wife built a mansion with a view of downtown Los Angeles in 1932. It had four bedrooms, five bathrooms, a movie-screening room, a pool, and a Juliet balcony. Safe to say, Walt Disney’s living arrangements drastically changed in only a decade.
And that is where the census found Walt, his wife Lillian, and two daughters in 1940. He employed and lived with a private butler, cook, and nurse! In only two decades, Walt went from an “Artist, cartoon” to a “Motion Picture Producer.” He went from scraping by to working for himself. Walt made “$5,000+” ($97,000+ in 2023) in 1940. His mansion was worth $40,000. With $40,000, he could have bought his brother’s 1920 Kansas City home eight times.
If you want to learn more about Walt Disney’s life, I recommend this biography: Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination by Neal Gabler!
Jack Palmer has done genealogy research since he was ten years old and loves writing about it for family, friends, and anybody else who might enjoy research stories and advice. He graduated from Duke University in May 2023, majoring in History and Psychology, and is the author of Helen & Frank: A Biography, a biography about his great-grandparents.
