Our History

In 1887 the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa fe Railway began construction from Kansas city to Chicago.  A location was chosen, which was situated in North Central Missouri, as a terminal or division point between these two cities.  By January 1888 the first town lot was sold in the newly plated division point of the railway, later to be known as Marceline.

Marceline received its name at the request of one of the directors of the new railroad, whose  wife bore the somewhat Spanish name of "Marcelina."   So with a change of the last vowel, this became the name of the new railroad city.

The new railroad city grew so rapidly that six months after the first lot was sold, it boasted a population of 2,500.  Marceline' present population is 2,258 making it the second largest town in LInn county.

When the town of Marceline was esteablished in 1888, Bishop John J. Hogan of Kansas city founded the parish of St. Bonaventure.  It was named in honor of the great Franciscan hero, St. Bonaventure, hoping that the Franciscans at Wien would take control of it.  The monks at Wien declined and Fr. Thomas Burke became the founding resident pastor.

Catholics of Irish, Italian, German, Croatian and Czechoslovakian origins were the first members of  the parish.  Most worked for the Santa Fe Railroad, as marceline was established as a coal and watering stop for the Chicago/Kansas city run.  The first church building was a wooden structure heated with a pot bellied stove.  In 1907 electric lights replaced the gas lamps.  In 1937 a modern heating system was installed and placed in the newly dug basement.

One newcomer to Marceline was Walt Disney.  Walt's family moved here with the railroad after Walt was born, living here for a little over four years.  During Walt's short itme here he started to draw and to dream.  "To telll the truth, more things of importance happened to me in Marceline than have happened since or are likely to happen in the fuutre."  Walt Disney