Old Town Fort Collins remains a direct inspiration for Disneyland's Main Street USA

For decades, students at Colorado State University and visitors to Fort Collins have been told Old Town Fort Collins inspired Disneyland's Main Street USA. According to Visit Fort Collins, the legend is true. 

While not every aspect of the iconic theme park entrance has ties to Fort Collins, many aspects of Main Street have ties to Old Town structures that still exist. 

"This is really where you want to be when you are in Fort Collins," said Katy Schneider with Visit Fort Collins. "We are on the list of historic preservation,"

Old Town Fort Collins is filled with restaurants, bars, shops, boutiques and breweries. But the charming exterior architecture of the city is what caught the eye of Disney's early innovators. 

"Fort Collins was the inspiration or Disneyland's Main Street USA," Schneider said. "Harper Goff was born in Fort Collins, Colorado. He met Walt Disney in London, and they became friends."

From there, Schneider said historians learned the duo because business partners after Disney hired him. 

"He showed a sketch to Walt Disney of what Main Street USA could be at Disneyland, and it included some of our buildings here in Old Town Fort Collins," Schneider said. 

While Old Town Fort Collins inspired several buildings and designs of Main Street, historians say other inspirations at Disneyland's entrance come from the hometown of Walt Disney in Missouri.   

Two specific buildings now draw direct similarities between Fort Collins and Main Street. The old London Hotel and the old fire station in Old Town have direct similarities to Disneyland. 

"Once you know it, and you see the buildings, you can definitely identify them on Main Street USA," Schneider said. "In Old Town, it feels like a quintessential all-American city, so the connection to Disneyland makes it all that more rich."