Welcome to Historic Downtown Kissimmee, Florida! We’re glad you came to visit!
Founded in the mid-19th century as Allendale, the settlement on the northwest side of Lake Tohopekaliga was renamed Kissimmee when incorporated as a city on March 23, 1883, with 33 of the eligable 36 voters. 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. 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.
During the Civil War, the settlement and the surrounding area had become important to the Confederate Army by providing cattle to feed the hungry troops. The local men that worked the cattle during that conflict, became known as the “cow calvary” and their efforts established the settlement as the heart of cow country. The sound of “cracking” cow whips used by these men to drive the cattle through the palmettos and underbrush led to them being called “crackers” and further led to the designation, “Florida Cracker.”
In the 1870’s, cargo steamships were a major form of transportation for this area. In 1882, with the extension of the railroad to the settlement, from Sanford, Florida, north of here on the St. John’s River, the steamships became even more important.
The dredging of a river highway from Lake Tohopekaliga to the Caloosahatchee River in Fort Myers, on the southwest coast of Florida, in 1884 and the further extension of the railroad from Kissimmee to Tampa, Florida in 1885 made this area a center of commerce and trade.
The railroad also brought about Kissimmee’s entry into the tourist industry, long before there were any thoughts of theme parks. The Tropical Hotel was built on the lakefront to accommodate visitors to this area. The hotel provided various tours and side trips for the tourists to better acquaint them with Florida.
On May 12, 1887, Osceola County was formed by the Florida State Legislature and on February 6, 1888, Kissimmee City was chosen by 421 of the newly formed county’s 451 eligible voters to be the county seat and the city where the Osceola County Courthouse would be built to serve it’s residents. The courthouse was built and then dedicated on May 6, 1890, and it is today, the oldest courthouse in the state of Florida still in use for the purpose it was originally built, The courthouse received national attention when it served as a venue for a televised 2004 Presidential Election Town Hall Meeting on the eve of the election.
.But the heyday of Kissimmee was short-lived. Expanding railroads began to challenge the steamships for carrying freight and passengers. By 1884, the South Florida Railroad had extended its tracks to Tampa. The Panic of 1893 was the worst depression the U.S. had experienced up to that time, crushing land speculation and unsound debt. 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.
We hope while you’re here in Historic Downtown Kissimmee, you’ll take the time to visit our Farmers Market (every Tuesday evening from 4 pm to 8 pm), see our courthouse, and walk to our beautiful lakefront. On your way to the lake, we hope you enjoy seeing “The Monument of States” and “The Bataan Corregidor Monument.” We also invite you to visit our many businesses and restaurants listed on this website.
Again, welcome to Historic Downtown Kissimmee and enjoy your visit to a genuine Florida Downtown Community!
