Disney is a town in Mayes County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 222 at the 2020 census, The town is named for former Oklahoma U.S. Congressman Wesley E. Disney and has no affiliation with The Walt Disney Company or Walt Disney.
Geography
Disney is in the northeastern corner of Mayes County, on the south shore of the Grand Lake o' the Cherokees, a reservoir on the Neosho River. The town is sometimes referred to as "Disney Island" due to its situation between the east end of the Pensacola Dam, the main dam which forms the lake, and two smaller spillways on the lake to the east. The northern part of Disney is lake-front, while the southern part is roughly bounded by Summerfield Creek, fed by the spillways from the two eastern dams.
Oklahoma State Highway 28 passes through the town, leading west across the Pensacola Dam to Langley. The town of Jay is to the east via highways 28 and 20.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the town of Disney has a total area of , of which are land and , or 12.62%, are water.
History
thumb|left|250px|The [[Pensacola Dam]]The town was founded on November 12, 1939, by land developer C.D. Armstrong, who saw the area as a potential 'resort center of the Midwest.' A U.S. Post Office was established on May 21, 1938, and dedicated to the U.S. Congressman Wesley E. Disney.
After Cherokee Nation tribalman Henry Holderman led a successful campaign advocating for local hydroelectric energy, the Oklahoma legislature formed the Grand River Dam Authority (GRDA) in 1935. In 1938, construction began on the Pensacola Dam, which would connect the towns of Langley and Disney. A by-product of the Second New Deal, the dam was a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), a New Deal agency focused on work relief during the Great Depression.
During the dam's construction, Disney became a boomtown. Hundreds of construction workers, businessmen, engineers, and truck drivers, along with all the services a large workforce would require, were based in the town.
The historic Dam Hotel was built in 1938 as a boutique hotel to serve workers and guests during this time.
To quarter the project's superintendents, ten WPA-era stone cabins were constructed at the east edge of the town. These have since been converted into a functional motel and can be rented by tourists.
In the October 1938 issue of Scribner's magazine, famed artist Thomas Hart Benton wrote and illustrated an article about Disney, titled "Thirty-Six Hours in a Boom Town".
A dam construction worker, William J. Morrow, built the first church in Disney.
The town was incorporated on March 19, 1959. In 1960, the population was 224. In 1980, the population peaked at 464.
Demographics
2020 census
As of the 2020 census, Disney had a population of 222. The median age was 54.8 years. 18.5% of residents were under the age of 18 and 29.7% of residents were 65 years of age or older. For every 100 females there were 96.5 males, and for every 100 females age 18 and over there were 94.6 males age 18 and over.
There were 101 households in Disney, of which 20.8% had children under the age of 18 living in them. Of all households, 41.6% were married-couple households, 21.8% were households with a male householder and no spouse or partner present, and 26.7% were households with a female householder and no spouse or partner present. About 30.7% of all households were made up of individuals and 17.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older.
! Race !! Number !! Percent
|-
| White || 136 || 61.3%
|-
| Black or African American || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| American Indian and Alaska Native || 58 || 26.1%
|-
| Asian || 1 || 0.5%
|-
| Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander || 0 || 0.0%
|-
| Some other race || 2 || 0.9%
|-
| Two or more races || 25 || 11.3%
|-
| Hispanic or Latino (of any race) || 7 || 3.2%
|}
2010 census
As of the 2010 census Disney had a population of 311. The racial and ethnic composition of the population was 73.0% white, 17.0% Native American, 0.3% from some other race, 9.6% reporting two or more races and 0.6% Hispanic or Latino from any race.
2000 census
As of the census