Walter Elias "Walt" Disney was born on December 5, 1901 in Hermosa, Illinois. He was among five children, and his parents were Flora Call Disney, of German-English descent, and Elias Disney, an IrishCanadian. In 1906, when Walt was four, the family moved to Marceline, Missouri, where he spent most of his childhoof. Walt developed an interest in drawing and painting pictures. In particular, Disney cherished drawing with one of his neighbors, a retired doctor, "Doc" Sherwood, and was paid to draw Sherwood's horse, Rupert. The young Walt also enjoyed copying cartoons from the local newspaper, and developed an interest in trains from his Uncle, Mike Martin. 

Walt Disney's family sometimes faced financial hard times. He and his sister Ruth started school in 1909, with no formal schooling prior. In 1910, the family was forced to sell their farm in Marceline, after two of Disney's older brothers grew fed up and left. In 1911 the Disneys moved to Kansas City, and at Benton Grammar School, Walt met Walter Pfeiffer, who introduced him to the world of vaudeville and motion pictures. Fascinated, Walt began spending a lot of time at the Pfeiffer household, and began taking Saturday classes at the Kansas City Art Institute. In 1911 Walt and his brother Roy also began work on a paper delivery route for The Kansas City Star: hard work that they continued for 6 years.