One Hundred Famous Views Of Marceline

Over the weekend, I received an announcement for an upcoming art exhibit at Avila University. I was surprised to see that it's showcasing a regional artist by the name of Nora Othic and titled "One Hundred Famous Views Of Marceline." The "surprise" here, for anybody unfamiliar with Marceline who may be reading this, is that the tiny town is relatively unknown by most. Within my family, Marceline is known as "the old country," considering many from my parents' generation are from there. And most still reside there.

Marceline is best known for being the boyhood home of Walt Disney, as well as the headquarters of Walsworth Publishing. I decided to search for more information on Wikipedia and these are some interesting facts I found:

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.3 square miles (8.5 km²), of which, 3.2 square miles (8.4 km²) of it is land and 0.04 square miles (0.1 km²) of it (0.91%) is water.

As of the censusGR2 of 2000, there were 2,558 people, 1,079 households, and 690 families residing in the city. The population density was 787.1 people per square mile (303.9/km²). There were 1,237 housing units at an average density of 380.6/sq mi (147.0/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 98.20% White, 0.12% African American, 0.78% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.20% from other races, and 0.51% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.82% of the population.

There were 1,079 households out of which 31.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.8% were married couples living together, 11.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.0% were non-families. 32.4% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.32 and the average family size was 2.95.

In the city the population was spread out with 26.7% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 24.4% from 25 to 44, 21.7% from 45 to 64, and 19.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females there were 84.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $25,164, and the median income for a family was $35,948. Males had a median income of $26,786 versus $17,382 for females. The per capita income for the city was $15,086. About 9.0% of families and 13.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 15.3% of those under age 18 and 19.5% of those age 65 or over.

Also, I never realized that Walt Disney's family only lived there for four years. If not for those four years, Marceline may not even be the size that it is today. The entire entry can be found here.

As for the exhibit, it runs from 18 January to 15 February. The gallery reception is this Friday (the 18th) from 5 pm to 8 pm. Although the exhibit technically runs for a month, the best time to go is the opening night, since for the following month the hours that the Whitfield Centre are open are from noon to 3 pm, Tuesday through Friday, or "by appointment."

Avila University is located at 11901 Wornall Road in Kansas City, Missouri. Hopefully I'll see you there.