Kissimmee is a city in Osceola County, Florida. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S Census Bureau is 59,682. Founded in the mid-19th century as Allendale, it was renamed Kissimmee when incorporated as a city in 1883. Its growth can be credited to Hamilton Disston of Philadelphia, who based his two-million acre drainage operation out of the small town. Disston had contracted with the financially wobbly state of Florida to drain its southern lands, for which he would own half of all he successfully drained. This deal made Disston the largest single landowner in the United States.
Disston’s dredging and land speculation required a small steamboat industry to transport people and goods along the new waterway. The Kissimmee shipyard was responsible for building most of these large steamships, which were just one jump ahead of civilization—with Kissimmee as the jumping off point. Concurrently, the South Florida Railroad was growing and extended the end of its line from Sanford down to Kissimmee, making the town on Lake Tohopekaliga a transportation hub for Central Florida. On February 12, 1885, the Florida legislature incorporated the Kissimmee City Street Railway.
But the heyday of Kissimmee was short lived. Expanding railroads began to challenge the steamships for carrying freight and passengers. By 1885, the South Florida Railroad had extended its tracks again to Miami. The panic of 1893 was the worst depression or economic slump the U.S. had experienced, crushing land speculation and unsound debt. Hamilton Disston closed his Kissimmee land operation. Back to back freezes in 1894 and 1895 wiped out the citrus industry. The freezes, combined with South Florida’s growth and the relocation of steamship operations to Lake Okeechobee, left Kissimmee dependent on cattle raising.
Kissimmee had a population of 4,310 in 1950. At that point there was some citrus packing as well as the ranching. Ranching remained an important part of the local economy until the opening of nearby Walt Disney World in 1971. After that, tourism and development supplanted cattle ranching to a large measure; however, cattle ranches still operate nearby, particularly in the southern part of Osceola County.
Walt Disney World Resort is the world’s largest and most-visited recreational resort with 16,972,000 guests being recorded for 2010. The resort covers an area of 30,080-acre or 47 square miles and includes four theme parks, two water parks, 23 on-site themed resort hotels (excluding eight that are on-site, but not owned by the Walt Disney Company), including a campground, two health spas and physical fitness centers, and other recreational venues and entertainment. It opened on October 1, 1971 with only the Magic Kingdom theme park and has since added Epcot (October 1, 1982), Disney’s Hollywood Studios (May 1, 1989) and Disney’s Animal Kingdom (April 22, 1998).
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$1,250,000 : 410 Greenbrier Ave, Kissimmee7 beds, 5 full baths
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$495,000 : 8557 La Isla Dr, Kissimmee7 beds, 5 full baths
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$248,135 : 2541 Marshfield Preserve Way, Kissimmee5 beds, 3 full baths
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$207,265 : 2561 Marshfield Preserve Way, Kissimmee3 beds, 2 full baths
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$192,220 : 2551 Marshfield Preserve Way, Kissimmee3 beds, 2 full baths
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