Sean Lahman

@SeanLahman

When Walt Disney was making plans to build Disney World in Florida, he came to Rochester in search of inspiration.

And he found it at Midtown Plaza.

"We're building a new community down there from nothing and we want it right," Disney told the Democrat & Chronicle in an article which ran on May 25, 1966. "I just wanted to come in to Rochester and talk with the boys here about Midtown Plaza."

Midtown had opened in 1962 and was the first urban shopping mall in the United States. Architect Victor Gruen said his goal was to build a pedestrian-friendly town square. The project won numerous awards and attracted city planners and elected officials from around the country who came to see what some hailed as a new model for urban life.

Disney was among them, having just undertaken plans to build a super-city in Florida. Rather than simply build an amusement park, he envisioned an experimental city that would be home to 50,000 people. It would be a testing ground for new concepts in city living.

During his visit, Disney said he was impressed by Midtown's high, wide ceiling, which he described as "giving it a feeling of openness."

He was also interested in the hotel atop the building and how it could fit in with his city-within-a-city concept.

While his Disneyland park in California attracted people for daylong visits, Disney said his Florida attraction would be designed to bring tourists in for a full two-week vacation period.

He had already acquired more than 27,000 acres of land outside Orlando, Florida.

"Our plans aren't specific yet," he said. "We're still trying to nail down some things and put the pieces together."

Disney arrived in Rochester at 11 a.m. and was back on his private plane three hours later, heading home.

While Disney World did open in 1971, Disney's dream of an experimental city never came to fruition. He died of lung cancer six months after his visit to Midtown. His brother Roy oversaw the completion of the project, scrapping the planned community and building a resort that resembled Disneyland, albeit on a larger scale.

Midtown Plaza remained as a retail hub for Rochester for another two decades, but struggled after the closing of its two anchor stores in the mid-1990s. It closed in 2008 and was demolished in 2010.

SLAHMAN@Gannett.com

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