increased emphasis on the hotel side of the business. In 1916, when he was 15 years old, Walt Disney spent a summer working for the Van Noy Interstate Company as a news butch, selling merchandise on various rail lines radiating out of Kansas City. His first run was from Kansas City to Jefferson City on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, but he also made runs on the Missouri, Kansas and Texas Railway, and Kansas City Southern Railway, according to an article that Disney wrote years later for Railroad Magazine. Van Noy Railway Hotel and News began a series of mergers and acquisitions in 1914, starting with the Brown News Company (also headquartered in Kansas City) which was acquired on October 1, 1914. In 1915, the company began consolidating operations with the New York City-based Interstate News Company. The company name was changed to Van Noy Interstate News Company in 1917, but the company headquarters remained in Kansas City under the leadership of Ira C. Van Noy. In 1922, the company owned distribution avenues covering of railroad, and had accumulated a massive portfolio of concession stands, stores, restaurants, and hotels. However, the need for railroad news services and en route eating houses was declining as railroads added dining cars to more trains. In early 1923, Missouri Pacific Railroad ended their long standing affiliation with Van Noy Interstate, although Van Noy continued to operate hotels at some smaller terminals where train crews ended their runs. Van Noy Hotel or Eating House Locations This is a partial list of known Van Noy establishments. Arkansas: Bald Knob, Benton, El Dorado, Fort Smith, Gurdon, Hope, Knobel, Lexa, McGehee, Newport, Van Buren, Wynne. Kansas: Coffeyville, Council Grove, Downs, Fort Scott, Goff, Greenleaf, Gypsum, Hoisington, Horace, Osawatomie, Wichita, Yates Center. Missouri: Bismark, Delta, Joplin, Poplar Bluff, Sedalia. Louisiana: Ferriday, Monroe Oklahoma: Wagoner Tennessee: Memphis Evolution away from Railway Service As a result of changes in railroad passenger train service, Van Noy Interstate began to focus more on the hotel side of their operations. In 1922, the Company acquired the Gem Fountain Company, and in 1926 the company began operating as the Interstate Company. The Interstate Company operated restaurants in train stations, as well as lunch rooms in bus stations. One of the more famous hotels owned by the company was the Beverly Hills Hotel, owned and operated by Interstate between 1928 and 1932. The Van Noy family's involvement