Two tribal nations filed a lawsuit saying that the federal government used the trust fund money of tribes to pay for boarding schools where generations of Native children were systematically abused.
In the lawsuit filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, the Wichita Tribe and the Washoe Tribe of Nevada and California said that by the U.S. government’s own admission, the schools were funded using money raised by forcing tribal nations into treaties to cede their lands. That money was to be held in trust for the collective benefit of tribes.
“The United States Government, the trustee over Native children’s education and these funds, has never accounted for the funds that it took, or detailed how, or even whether, those funds were ultimately expended. It has failed to identify any funds that remain,” according to the lawsuit.
The lawsuit was filed against Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Bureau of Indian Education. A spokesperson for the Interior declined to comment on pending litigation.
In 2022, the Department of the Interior, under the direction of Secretary Deb Haaland, the first Native American to run the agency, released a scathing report on the legacy of the boarding school era, in which Native children were stolen from their homes, forced to assimilate, and in many cases physically, sexually and mentally abused. Countless children died at the schools, many of whom were buried in unmarked graves at the institutions.
That report detailed the U.S. government’s intentions of using the boarding schools as a way to both strip Native children of their culture and dispossess their tribal nations of land.
The tribes are asking the court to make the U.S. account for the estimated $23.3 billion it appropriated for the boarding school program, detail how that money was invested, and list the remaining funds that were taken by the U.S. and allocated for the education of Native children.
Last year, President Biden issued a formal apology for the government’s boarding school policy, calling it “a sin on our soul” and “one of the most horrific chapters” in American history. But in April, the administration of President Trump cut $1.6 million from projects meant to capture and digitize stories of boarding school survivors.
Sebastia, occupied West Bank – Israel calls it an archaeological project to highlight Jewish heritage and create a new Israeli national park. Palestinians see it as further evidence of Israel’s plans to annex an ancient town and erase Palestinian history in an area that tells the 5,000-year-old shared story of the peoples who have lived in this land.
Far-right, pro-settler Israeli government ministers were in Sebastia on May 12 as part of a delegation to mark the looming seizure of the town’s archaeological park, one of the largest and most important of 6,000 sites in the West Bank.
Ultranationalist Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu, himself a resident of an illegal West Bank settlement, hailed the beginning of Israeli excavation at the site and the coming creation of “Samaria National Park”, which will focus on the area’s Jewish history.
Palestinians say that will come along with an attempt to paint over their ties to the land. The Palestinian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities called the excavations “preparation for Sebastia’s annexation and isolation from its surroundings”.
Israeli politicians refer to Sebastia as Samaria, or Shomron in Hebrew, and say it was the capital of the Biblical Kingdom of Israel nearly three millennia ago.
But the archaeological site includes the ruins of a Byzantine basilica, a Roman forum and amphitheatre, and the Crusader-era Church of St John, which was rebuilt into a mosque – and is believed to be the site of the tomb of John the Baptist, known in the Quran as Prophet Yahya.
Sebastia’s archaeological park, once a tourism hotspot and still a pilgrimage site for Christians, is being considered for inclusion on UNESCO’s world heritage list, subject to an application being finalised by Palestinian officials.
Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu hailed the decision to start work on an Israeli national park in Sebastia [Courtesy of the Office of Israeli Minister of Heritage Amichai Eliyahu]
‘River of blood’
Sebastia mayor Mohammed Azim and town residents have long been warning of Israel’s intention to “Judaise” Sebastia and turn it into an Israeli-only tourism site.
Alarm intensified after the municipality received a land seizure order to construct an installation for “military purposes” at the summit of an ancient hilltop in the area last July.
Speaking to Al Jazeera in his office overlooking the increasingly deserted old town, Azim said a “river of blood will flow into the village” if construction of the barracks begins.
“The military is aiming to make life unbearable for the residents here, so they eventually surrender to reality and leave – just like those who have been displaced in Jenin and Tulkarem,” Azim said, referring to the more than 40,000 Palestinians displaced by Israeli military operations in the occupied West Bank this year.
“Now, soldiers enter the village daily – and with the clear intention of killing,” Azim added. “We will resist construction – peacefully, of course. The landowners will not give up their land.”
The mayor called for condemnation of intensifying military violence in the village and the targeting of children, notably the army’s fatal shooting of 14-year-old Ahmad Jazar in January.
For its part, the Israeli state argues that the village of Sebastia will not be affected by the archaeological work, as it lies outside the boundaries of the proposed national park.
But Sebastia Archaeological Museum curator and lifelong resident, Walaa Ghazzal, says the plans are an escalation in Israel’s plans to eventually expel residents and business owners and prevent Palestinians from accessing the town, its ruins, and the sprawling hills and olive fields around it.
Ghazzal told Al Jazeera that “residents are afraid of the future”, especially those near the ruins.
“The situation is very dangerous,” she said. “Soon, they will prevent us from going to the archaeological site.
“In my opinion, we have only months before we are told to leave our homes,” Ghazzal added. “We are seeing the future in Gaza and in the camps [in the West Bank]. They are trying to erase us.”
Stars of David graffitied on the ancient Hellenic wall in Sebastia [Al Jazeera]
‘Biblical heritage’
Israeli ministers and settler politicians are using rhetoric about protecting Jewish Biblical heritage to disguise their long-held desire to annex Sebastia, Azim said.
Eliyahu was joined in Sebastia by Minister of Environmental Protection Idit Silman and Yossi Dagan, chairman of the Shomron Regional Council, which controls 35 illegal West Bank settlements.
Silman has hailed the scheme and told Israeli media, “historical justice is being done”, accusing Palestinians of attempting to “erase” Jewish heritage.
The Israeli government has long been clear that Sebastia, which most historians agree was the capital of the Kingdom of Israel for less than 200 years, will be taken over and transformed into the centrepiece of Israeli tourism in the West Bank.
In May 2023, the Israeli government approved a 30 million shekel (more than $8m) scheme to restore the park and establish a tourism centre, new access roads, and an expanded military presence. The four million shekel ($1.2m) regeneration of a disused Hijaz railway station about two miles from Sebastia, last operational in the final years of the Ottoman Empire, has also been announced.
“The archeological excavations are designed to expose the antiquities of the site and make the ancient city accessible throughout all its periods: from the beginning of the settlement in the 8th century BCE during the ancient Kingdom of Israel, through the Hellenistic city, the magnificent Roman city built by King Herod [called “Sebastos” after Emperor Augustus], to the Byzantine period when a church was built at the site,” said the office of Israeli Minister of Heritage Eliyahu.
Erasing Palestinian identity
Ghazzal said Sebastia’s ruins exhibit a “distinct local culture” in a geographic region which has “always been known as Palestine”. She said the remains emphasise the religious and cultural importance of the town to conquering empires, and its multifaith inhabitants’ peaceful coexistence for centuries.
In the Palestinian submission to UNESCO, it is noted that the present town of Sebastia still preserves “the ancient name [and] is located on the eastern part of the Roman city, indicating a strong element of cultural continuity”.
But for those focused on the planned Israeli national park, it’s only Jewish history that matters.
Responding to a query from Al Jazeera, Eliyahu’s office said that Sebastia was “first and foremost a Jewish heritage site, where archaeological remains from the Kingdom of Israel period were found”.
“It is important to emphasise that even if we were to dig at the site to the depth of the Earth’s core, not even a grain of historical evidence of ancient Palestinian settlement would be found at the site,” Eliyahu’s office added.
Yossi Dagan, who lives in neighbouring Shavei Shomron, has long advocated for the takeover of Sebastia and emphasises its prominence in Biblical history. He told Israeli media at the archaeological site: “When you dig here, you touch the Bible with your own hands.”
But Ghazzal said that the Israeli government’s treatment of the Biblical stories in the Old Testament as historical reality is designed to relegate the claims of Palestinians to have lived on the land for thousands of years, and ignores the Palestinian people’s ancient ties to their land.
“You can’t base your claim to the land on religion – civilisations are about the people who develop their identity, their works and monuments – even their language,” Ghazzal said.
“Israel wants to kill the stories from our past and replace them with poison; it is a crime against our history,” Ghazzal added. “When they demolish our monuments, remove families who keep the history alive, who will speak after that – and carry our story for the next generation?”
Palestinians visit the museum in Sebastia. It is already hard for them to visit the archaeological park because of settler attacks and the Israeli military presence [File: Raneen Sawafta/Reuters]
Ghost town
Ahmad Kayed, a 59-year-old Sebastia villager and leading activist, told Al Jazeera the ruins will not be “taken without a fight”, and demonstrations are being instigated.
He said Israel is “planning something big” in Sebastia and referenced new iron blockades being erected on roads encircling the town.
It is already extremely unsafe for Sebastia residents to visit the archaeological park because of settler attacks and near-daily military invasions, he said. But once a military barracks is established, it will be permanently off limits.
“They are working step by step to get their hands on Sebastia and keep us suffering all the time so people will leave,” Kayed said, referring to the at least 40 families that have left the town since October 7, 2023.
“We are in the second Nakba and Sebastia is under siege,” he added. “But Sebastia is strong, we know how to face them because we have done it before.”
He pointed out that residents rose up to thwart Israel’s plans to take Sebastia in the late 1970s, and they did so again to halt settlers pumping sewage onto agricultural land in 2013. Two years later, residents’ protests and sit-ins blocked the construction of a new access road for settlers, which Eliyahu’s office justified as necessary for the “hundreds of thousands of Israelis who will want to come, learn, and experience the Jewish heritage” of Sebastia.
But Kayed admits times have changed, and violence from the military today is unlike anything he has experienced in his decades of activism.
“When we decide what to do, we will be smart, and we will demonstrate in new ways, and everyone in Sebastia will follow us,” he added.
He was also gravely concerned that if excavations took place, Israelis would desecrate archaeological findings that contradicted their claim to the land, with so much still to be uncovered if Palestinian-led digs were not blocked.
The municipality still hopes UNESCO will provide the village protection and add the ruins to its World Heritage list. The mayor also hopes the archaeological park will join 56 other locations on UNESCO’s register of significant sites considered to be “in danger”.
Businesses near the archaeological site say they have lost more than three-quarters of their custom since October 7.
Samer Sha’er, owner of a coffee shop directly next to the park and Sebastia’s imposing Roman columns, said a military outpost would be devastating for businesses.
“There will be daily confrontations, constant military presence, and no sense of security,” he said. “No one will want to come and sit here while the army is stationed nearby – neither shop owners nor visitors will be able to stay.”
Once holy land coveted by prophets and conquering emperors, Sebastia has been reduced to a ghost town – haunted by the glory of its history, which has also made it a target for annexation by the ultranationalist Israeli government.
Kayed looked visibly moved as he described his youth playing on the hills of the archaeological park, and a lifetime spent trying to save his home.
He was evidently aggrieved that the town had not acted more quickly to unify against the creeping threat of the military barracks or eventual annexation. But it seems all those concerned, including the town’s mayor, are not sure what is coming next – or when.
“This land means everything to me,” Kayed added. “I have spent all my childhood, all my life going to the park.
“They will confiscate my land [to build the barracks]. I planted olive trees there with my mother, it is very painful to lose them, Kayed said. “The village will never give up on the ruins – this is our history, our life. We will fight until the end.”
A South L.A. recycling plant that has been accused of spewing toxic waste and metal projectiles onto the grounds of Jordan High School will be permanently shut down, according to a plea deal agreed to by the plant’s owners in court Tuesday.
Matthew and Gary Weisenberg — the owners of S&W Atlas Iron & Metal, one of the city’s oldest metal recycling facilities — each pleaded guilty to three misdemeanor counts of unlawful disposal of hazardous waste and public nuisance. The corporation pleaded no contest to five felony counts of failing to properly dispose of hazardous waste.
In addition to shutting down, the company and its owners will pay around $150,000 in fines. They will also owe $1 million in restitution to the Los Angeles Unified School District and an additional $850,000 to the district attorney’s office, which will be split between government agencies and Watts community organizations.
The father and son will serve 200 hours of community service and two years of probation. They must also cease recycling material processing facility operations. The Weisenbergs maintain the right to operate a business on the parcel of land they own, but it cannot involve metal processing or recycling, according to the terms laid out in court.
The school district and city will have the right of first refusal to buy the parcel if the Weisenbergs ever look to sell their land.
L.A. County Dist. Atty. Nathan Hochman was in the courtroom Tuesday morning and held a news conference at Jordan High School later in the afternoon. He used the opportunity to warn “environmental criminals,” saying, “pay heed and notice to what is going on today.”
“They are polluting the land, the sea, the rivers and the air,” said Hochman. “Very often, environmental criminals think they will pay a fine here and there — that’s business. But they are putting their feet to the fire today.”
Deputy Dist. Atty. Benjamin Wright, who worked on the case, said outside the courtroom, “We are very pleased with the plea deal. The facility has been operating for so long. There have been so many instances of shrapnel flying onto school property. It’s very dangerous for the students, let alone all the hazardous waste.”
The Weisenbergs’ attorneys, Benjamin Gluck and Vicki Podberesky, had previously denied all wrongdoing by their clients.
“While it is with sadness that Atlas has agreed to close its recycling operations, this decision reflects the evolving land use along the Alameda Corridor,” wrote Gluck in a statement to The Times. “Our clients hope that the outcome of this case and the financial contributions Atlas is making will help support the Watts community.”
L.A. prosecutors first charged the Weisenbergs with nearly two dozen counts of failing to properly dispose waste in 2023, following years of allegations levied by community activists and school officials that the metal plant was belching poison onto students. Prosecutors alleged the plant exposed students at Jordan High School to several explosions, metal projectiles and lead levels nearly 75 times higher than what federal regulators deem safe.
As a result, a judge barred the plant from accepting certain types of canisters that might blow up, warning the Weisenbergs their bail would be revoked if they didn’t comply. In March, an investigation by the state Department of Toxic Substances found containers of acetylene, a highly flammable gas, on the plant’s grounds. L.A. County Superior Court Judge Terry Bork briefly jailed the Weisenbergs and days later order the plant shuttered for failure to comply.
For more than 20 years, community organizers and activists have fought to get the plant shut down.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency previously ordered the company to upgrade its system to stop chemicals from washing into storm drains and going onto campus. Prior soil samples reported from the high school also showed high concentrations of lead and zinc.
Paultons Park in Hampshire has unveiled its new £3.5m dark ride, Ghostly Manor, as it also looks ahead to the addition of a new £12m themed-world which opens to the public in 2026
A new spooky and thrilling ride has been unveiled at Paultons Park in Hampshire(Image: Supplied)
Paultons Park in Hampshire has pulled the wraps off its spooky new £3.5 million dark ride, Ghostly Manor, which opened its doors to the public on May 17. But that’s not all – they’ve also spilled the beans on a whopping £12 million themed-world that’s in the pipeline.
Valgard – Realm of the Vikings is set to be Paultons Park’s biggest splurge yet and is squarely aimed at families with older kids and teens.
The Viking-themed extravaganza, due to open in spring 2026, will be home to Paultons Park’s first-ever inverting rollercoaster. ‘Drakon’ promises to be the park’s most adrenaline-pumping ride yet, boasting a vertical lift hill and two twists that’ll flip riders head over heels.
Valgard will also play host to a brand-new Vild Swing that’ll send thrill-seekers spinning 12 metres into the air. The Vild Swing will make Paultons Park the first UK theme park to install a thrilling swing by ART Engineering.
Paultons Park has unveiled its spooky new £3.5 million dark ride, Ghostly Manor(Image: Supplied)
But it’s not just about the new rides. Valgard will also see the Cobra, a much-loved classic at Paultons Park, reimagined as a bobsled adventure. The ride will take on a new identity as Raven, adding to the immersive Viking village experience. Valgard will also feature a themed restaurant with plenty of seats and a new playground for the little ones to explore.
While keeping their cards close to their chest, Paultons Park did let slip that another major thrill ride is on the horizon for Valgard in 2027, hinting at a splashy water-based experience.
Paultons Park is set to take its visitors on an epic Viking adventure with the introduction of Valgard – Realm of the Vikings, adding to its trove of over 80 rides and attractions spanning six themed worlds. Valgard joins the ranks alongside the Midwestern America-themed Tornado Springs, renowned for its exhilarating ‘Cyclonator’ and the twisting ‘Storm Chaser’ coaster, as well as dinosaur-themed haven — Lost Kingdom.
James Mancey, deputy managing director at Paultons Park, said: “We are thrilled to share our plans for our largest and boldest investment to date, and on the day that we welcomed guests into our brand-new Ghostly Manor. As an independent, family-owned theme park, we’re incredibly proud of the investments we make to deliver the very best guest experience. We’ve opened two brand-new rides in the last two years and with the build of Valgard firmly underway, we’re excited to open a further three, bigger-and-better-than-ever-before rides, between now and summer 2027.”
Ghostly Manor is Paultons Park’s latest indoor ride sensation(Image: Supplied)
Mancey also expressed his excitement over the new additions, adding: “Valgard promises an immersive, atmospheric, and action-packed experience for families and has been specifically designed to grow with our fans. The introduction of inversions and a vertical lift hill on Drakon certainly ups the adrenaline levels at Paultons Park, but staying true to our roots, we haven’t forgotten about the little ones and there is something for all of the family in our new Viking village.”
Ghostly Manor, the latest indoor ride sensation, has upped the ante at Paultons Park with its five minutes of gameplay and an extra dose of pre-show excitement, adding to the park’s already stellar roster of over 70 rides and attractions.
Ghostly Manor’s interactive gameplay is suited for thrill-seekers aged five and up, with those aged eight and older allowed to ride unaccompanied.
As soon as guests step into the queue for Ghostly Manor, they’ll encounter all sorts of spectral sights and haunted objects while navigating the abode of the famed ghost hunter, Dr Kinley. Riders hop into four-seater carriages and are equipped with their very own Phantom Phaser. The nifty gadget lets them snag sneaky spectres and troublesome phantoms.
Guests will encounter all sorts of spectral sights and haunted objects as soon as they enter the Ghostly Manor abode(Image: Supplied)
The ride is a feast for the senses, featuring cutting-edge haptic interactive tech and LED lights on the handheld Phaser, enhancing the experience across eight digitally decked-out scenes. At the journey’s end, each ghost hunter’s score is tallied, crowning the most skilled spirit snatcher.
James added: “We have worked with the very best technical and theming experts in the attractions business to create Ghostly Manor. Our teams and partners have done a remarkable job at creating our very own haunted house, brimming with entertaining paranormal activity. Ghostly Manor really does look like it’s always been part of Paultons Park, and I’m sure it’s going to be an enormous hit with our guests.”
On Thursday, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Trump vs. CASA Inc. Though the case arises out of President Trump’s January executive order on birthright citizenship and the 14th Amendment, Thursday’s oral argument had very little to do with whether everyone born in the U.S. is automatically a U.S. citizen. Instead, the argument mostly focused on a procedural legal issue that is just as important: whether lower-court federal judges possess the legitimate power to issue nationwide injunctions to bring laws or executive orders to a halt beyond their districts.
There is a very straightforward answer to this question: No, they don’t. And it is imperative for American constitutionalism and republican sef-governance that the justices clearly affirm that.
Let’s start with the text. Article III of the Constitution establishes the “judicial Power” of the United States, which University of Chicago Law School professor Will Baude argued in a 2008 law review article “is the power to issue binding judgments and to settle legal disputes within the court’s jurisdiction.” If the federal courts can bind certain parties, the crucial question is: Who is bound by a federal court issuing an injunction?
In our system of governance, it is only the named parties to a given lawsuit that can truly be bound by a lower court’s judgment. As the brilliant then-Stanford Law School professor Jonathan Mitchell put it in an influential 2018 law review article, an “injunction is nothing more than a judicially imposed non-enforcement policy” that “forbids the named defendants to enforce the statute” — or executive order — “while the court’s order remains in place.” Fundamentally, as Samuel L. Bray observed in another significant 2017 law review article, a federal court’s injunction binds only “the defendant’s conduct … with respect to the plaintiff.” If other courts in other districts face a similar case, those judges might consider their peer’s decision and follow it, but they are not strictly required to do so. (For truly nationwide legal issues, the proper recourse is filing a class-action lawsuit, as authorized by Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.)
One need not be a legal scholar to understand this commonsense point.
Americans are a self-governing people; it is we the people, according to the Constitution’s Preamble, who are sovereign in the United States. And while the judiciary serves as an important check on congressional or executive overreach in specific cases or controversies that come before it (as Article III puts it), there is no broader ability for lower-court judges to decide the law of the land by striking down a law or order for all of the American people.
As President Lincoln warned in his first inaugural address: “The candid citizen must confess that if the policy of the government upon vital questions affecting the whole people is to be irrevocably fixed by” the judiciary, “the instant they are made in ordinary litigation between parties in personal actions, the people will have ceased to be their own rulers.”
Simply put, the patriots of 1776 did not rebel against the tyranny of King George III only to subject themselves, many generations later, to the black-robed tyranny of today. They fought for the ability to live freely and self-govern, and to thereby control their own fates and destinies. Judicial supremacy and the concomitant misguided practice of nationwide injunctions necessarily deprive a free people of the ability to do exactly that.
It is true that Chief Justice John Marshall’s landmark 1803 ruling in Marbury vs. Madison established that “it is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department to say what the law is.” But it is also true, as Marshall noted in the less frequently quoted sentence directly following that assertion: “Those who apply the rule to particular cases, must of necessity expound and interpret that rule.” Note the all-important qualifier of “apply the rule to particular cases.” Marbury is often erroneously invoked to support judicial supremacy, but the modest case- and litigant-specific judicial review that Marshall established has nothing to do with the modern judicial supremacy and nationwide injunctions that proliferate today. It is that fallacious conception of judicial supremacy that was argued Thursday at the Supreme Court.
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., one of the swing votes in CASA, is not always known for judicial modesty. On the contrary, in clumsily attempting to defend his institution’s integrity, he has at times indulged in unvarnished judicial supremacist rhetoric and presided over an unjustifiable arrogation of power to what Alexander Hamilton, in the Federalist No. 78, referred to as the “least dangerous” of the three branches.
If Roberts and his fellow centrist justices — namely, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett — have any sense of prudence, they must join their more stalwart originalist colleagues in holding that nationwide injunctions offend the very core of our constitutional order. Such a ruling would not merely be a win for Trump; it would be a win for the Constitution and for self-governance itself.
Josh Hammer’s latest book is “Israel and Civilization: The Fate of the Jewish Nation and the Destiny of the West.” This article was produced in collaboration with Creators Syndicate. @josh_hammer
Insights
L.A. Times Insights delivers AI-generated analysis on Voices content to offer all points of view. Insights does not appear on any news articles.
The following AI-generated content is powered by Perplexity. The Los Angeles Times editorial staff does not create or edit the content.
Ideas expressed in the piece
The article argues that lower-court judges lack constitutional authority to issue nationwide injunctions, emphasizing that such injunctions exceed the judiciary’s role as defined by Article III. It asserts that injunctions should bind only named parties in a lawsuit, not the entire population, to preserve self-governance[1][2][3].
Citing legal scholars like Will Baude and Jonathan Mitchell, the author contends that nationwide injunctions distort the judicial process by allowing plaintiffs to “venue shop” for favorable rulings, effectively enabling a single judge to dictate policy for all Americans. This undermines the principle that courts resolve disputes between specific parties, not set broad legal precedent[1][2][3].
The piece invokes historical precedents, including President Lincoln’s warnings about judicial overreach and Chief Justice Marshall’s Marbury v. Madison, to argue that judicial review should apply narrowly to individual cases. It frames nationwide injunctions as a modern departure from the Founders’ vision of a limited judiciary[1][3].
Different views on the topic
During oral arguments, New Jersey Solicitor General Jeremy Feigenbaum argued that nationwide injunctions should remain permissible in specific circumstances, such as cases involving constitutional rights or systemic federal policies, to prevent inconsistent enforcement across jurisdictions[3].
Advocates for retaining injunctions highlight their role in checking executive overreach, particularly in high-stakes cases like challenges to Trump’s birthright citizenship order. They argue that without this tool, harmful policies could remain in effect for years while litigation proceeds in multiple courts[4][3].
Legal scholars and some justices have raised concerns that banning nationwide injunctions entirely could create regulatory chaos, citing examples like the FTC’s non-compete ban and environmental rules, where injunctions provided temporary uniformity while courts resolve conflicting rulings[3][4].
There’s an oft-repeated Disneyland creation myth: Artist and animation art director Herb Ryman was given 48 hours to draw an early, heavily detailed and romanticized map of the theme park, which would be used to help sell the project to investors. Although that’s all true, Ryman’s work — one of the most famous and important Disneyland drawings — was far from the first map of Disneyland, as it is often colloquially referred to.
Ryman’s work was in fact an iteration of sorts, based upon years of master planning from Walt Disney and early collaborator Marvin Davis, a cinematic art director responsible for much of Disneyland’s early designs. Some never-before-seen work of Davis and other Disneyland designers will be unearthed in the new book “The Happiest Place On Earth,” from animation producer Don Hahn and theme park designer Christopher Merritt. Both Hahn and Merritt have over the years morphed into theme-park historians, and the book is being released July 15 to coincide with Disneyland’s 70th anniversary.
“Marvin Davis claimed that, as he sat there, probably in a room by himself at the studio with Walt standing over him poking him in the shoulder, he did 133 revisions of these maps to get to the Disneyland layout by 1955,” Merritt says. “A few of these maps have been shown before but a lot of these have not been seen before.”
The archives at Walt Disney Imagineering, the secretive division of the company responsible for theme-park experiences. Found in the archives were multiple maps from Marvin Davis that explore Disneyland’s roots.
(Walt Disney Co.)
The book will trace the development of Disneyland, starting in the early ’50s when Disney flirted with the idea of placing the park next to the studio in Burbank — concepts drawn by Harper Goff — to many of Davis’ gradual advancements of the theme-park form. Study them, and they reveal how many of Disneyland’s core ideas were in place by the early 1950s, although they morphed. Alice in Wonderland, for instance, was once envisioned as a walk-through attraction, to be placed across the way from an archery in Fantasyland.
Hahn makes the case that many of the early seeds for Disneyland were planted during a 1948 trip that Disney and animator Ward Kimball took to Chicago. There, the two attended the Chicago Railroad Fair, which had, among its attractions, Abraham Lincoln reenactments and a re-creation of a frontier town.
“His first memo he did when he got home from the Chicago Railroad Fair was all about trying to create these certain regions,” Hahn says. “If you look at the early Burbank parks, there was a western village, there was a stagecoach, there was a railroad station, there was a Tom Sawyer-ish island. A lot of those things came from the Railroad Fair.”
And there was a lot of early experimentation and many a discarded idea. One of Merritt’s favorite rejected concepts was a Tomorrowland exhibition dedicated to hunting for uranium. The attraction has been referenced by Disney and others over the years as a “lost” attraction, but “The Happiest Place on Earth” will feature some never-before-seen concept art from Imagineer Claude Coats.
“Uranium Hunt was an attraction strangely enough to be placed in Tomorrowland, although Claude designed it with Southwestern rock work,” Merritt says. “It was kind of outside rock maze, and the idea was they would hand you Geiger counters, and there was going to be real radioactive uranium embedded in the rock work that you would measure. In the end, they would give you a souvenir uranium to take home with you, which is just crazy-pants.”
Not all of the early Disneyland ideas are as outlandish. What follows are a few of the maps — and some early designs — that led to what would become Disneyland as we know it today.
Early sketches reveal an opera house, general store and more
A Harper Goff-drawn concept for a Disney theme park in Burbank. This is believed to have been drawn in 1951.
(Walt Disney Co.)
An early 1950s sketch layout of Disneyland, focusing on merchandising outlets.
(Walt Disney Co.)
Disney first considered a theme park across from its studios in Burbank, land that is today occupied by Walt Disney Animation Studios and the West Coast headquarters of ABC. The idea, in its early conceptions, included much of what would later make its way to Disneyland — a train, a steamboat and less detailed versions of Main Street and a Frontierland.
Of particular note here is the second photo, unearthed in “The Happiest Place on Earth” for the first time. The focus is on merchandising locations, but those who study the image will spy an opera house and a general store, believed to be the first time such concepts appear. There’s also a spaceport, a haunted house and a re-creation of London’s Tower Bridge. Shops are said to be themed to properties such as “Cinderella” and “Pinocchio.”
“It shows the holistic thinking, too, of not just the attractions but commerce,” Hahn says. “Where the stores would be, where the cafes would be, and kind of a guest-experience mentality. That was a real theme-park innovation, where you’re transported in time to Frontierland but the food and the costumes add up to Frontierland as well. You see the beginnings of that in a map like this.”
The beginnings of Frontierland and the Storybook Land Canal Boats
An early Disneyland map drawn by Marvin Davis. This map was likely drawn around 1953.
(Walt Disney Co.)
These early Disneyland schematics from Davis begin to capture Disneyland’s “hub” idea, that is, a central area that leads to and from its themed spaces. There’s a large theater space, believed to be designed in the hopes of Disneyland becoming a television production locale, and a significant plot dedicated to a river with surrounding attractions — the map calls for a space for otters, as well as a swamp area.
The Frontierland concept is still present, complete with a pony ranch and a stagecoach, as is a haunted house and a land themed to miniatures, a concept that would ultimately become the Storybook Land Canal Boats. Merritt notes that this design is location-agnostic, as Anaheim had not yet been decided upon for Disneyland.
Of particular note here is an introductory land like a Main Street, U.S.A., leading to a central hub. “These maps are revelatory when you look at them all in sequence,” Merritt says.
Davis’ early maps also highlight a residential street with large Victorian homes. The second image, in particular, mentions a town hall and a church. Hahn and Merritt believe this land was heavily influenced by the look and tone of “Lady and the Tramp.”
Main Street starts to materialize
An early Harper Goff design that influenced the look of Frontierland.
(Walt Disney Co.)
Some early Harper Goff designs for what would become Disneyland.
(Walt Disney Co.)
Early Disneyland concept art from Harper Goff
(Walt Disney Co.)
These, says Merritt, are a selection 1951 drawings from Harper Goff. The work is exploratory, in that it could have been envisioned for multiple parts of the park. While Goff’s impact on Frontierland is well documented — and Hahn notes, perhaps, an influence from Knott’s Berry Farm’s Ghost Town in these images — it’s also believed some of these designs were kicked around as a potential Main Street, U.S.A., concept.
Main Street, says Hahn, is often noted as being largely influenced by Disney’s time as a child in Marceline, Mo. While that isn’t really doubted these days among Disney’s fan base, Hahn says that theory wasn’t arrived upon immediately. He notes that some of Goff’s early concept work has a slight Victorian bent, which Goff drew from both “Lady and the Tramp” and his own childhood.
“It’s really the childhood of nobody,” Hahn says of Main Street. “It’s an idealized America. Goff grew up in Colorado, and a lot of these are his Victorian memories of his Colorado hometown. These are set designers who were bringing their movie chops to Disneyland.”
Welcome to the park’s destination: Anaheim
A pivotal early Disneyland map drawn by Marvin Davis.
(Walt Disney Co. )
Merritt and Hahn believe this third early schematic of Disneyland from Davis — the drawing is undated — is perhaps the first to envision Anaheim as the park’s destination. The image needs only to be rotated and one can see many of the pieces that would comprise the park — a Main Street, a central hub and, for the first time since Goff’s drawings of the Burbank park, a train that encircles the grounds.
Zoom in, and one will see there’s a large “emporium” to greet guests — and shoppers — on Main Street, U.S.A., as well as a castle-like moat to mark the entrance to Fantasyland. Still present are TV production spaces at the front of the park, and the map lists a host of attractions, including a horse-drawn carriage, train rides and boat rides.
Maps begin to show the Disneyland attractions we know today
A fall 1953 map of Disneyland from Marvin Davis.
(Walt Disney Co.)
A September 1953 map of Disneyland from Marvin Davis.
(Walt Disney Co.)
A September 1953 map of Disneyland from Marvin Davis.
(Walt Disney Co.)
These three Davis maps are from September 1953, made just days apart. The bottom drawing is a bit more simplified, as it was designed to be shown to TV networks and financiers. One can see a ride inspired by Disney’s “True-Life Adventures” on the right side of the park. This would ultimately become the Jungle Cruise and be flipped to the left side of the park.
All three maps, however, were instrumental in the final design of Disneyland, envisioning Anaheim as the ultimate destination. Of note in the middle image is a Recreation Land, home to a ball field, a mini-golf course and a bandstand. At this time, Disneyland was still envisioned as housing a circus, a concept that was explored in the actual park after opening but soon discarded. Yet Fantasyland, a Land of Tomorrow, Frontierland and what would become Adventureland are all present.
Fantasyland is home in these drawings to attractions themed to “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs,” “Peter Pan,” “Alice in Wonderland,” Pinocchio” (denoted as Pleasure Island) and “Fantasia.” Also present is what would become Autopia, signifying that Disneyland in late 1953 had many of its early attractions solidified. Still, many, such as a Mother Goose area, would pop-up and then disappear from the maps.
Says Merritt, “You’re going to want to get your magnifying glass to look at some of this stuff.”
