Editing Kissimmee, Florida (section)

== History ==

[[File:Broadway Avenue, Kissimmee, FL.jpg|thumb|left|220px|Broadway Avenue {{circa|1912}}]]
The area was originally named Allendale, after Confederate Major J. H. Allen, who operated the first cargo steamboat along the [[Kissimmee River]]—the ''Mary Belle''.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.osceola.org/about_osceola_county/157-428-20514/the_history_of_kissimmee.cfm |title=Brief History of Osceola County: The History of Kissimmee |access-date=March 19, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121016063441/http://osceola.org/about_osceola_county/157-428-20514/the_history_of_kissimmee.cfm |archive-date=October 16, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> It was renamed Kissimmee when incorporated as a city in 1883. The modern town, the county seat of Osceola County, was founded before the Civil War by the Bass, Johnson and Overstreet families.<ref>{{Citation|last=Bucci|first=Diane Todd|title=Jones, Grace Morris Allen|date=2013-03-15|url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.37257|work=African American Studies Center|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195301731.013.37257|isbn=978-0-19-530173-1|access-date=2021-04-11}}</ref> The etymology of the name Kissimmee is debated, apart from general agreement that it is Native American in origin.<ref>{{cite news|work=Orlando Sentinel|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1986/11/16/historians-try-to-trace-origins-of-indian-named-places/|first=Katherine|last=Long|date=November 16, 1986|title=Historians Try To Trace Origins Of Indian-named Places|access-date=March 9, 2017}}</ref> Its growth can be credited to [[Hamilton Disston]] of [[Philadelphia]], who based his four-million acre<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.kissimmee.org/index.aspx?page=255|title=City of Kissimmee, FL : Hamilton Disston|work=kissimmee.org|access-date=August 19, 2014|archive-date=March 24, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150324214501/http://kissimmee.org/index.aspx?page=255|url-status=dead}}</ref> (8,000&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>) [[drainage]] operation out of the 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, Florida|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]].

[[File:Kissimmee Automobile Company.jpg|thumb|Kissimmee Automobile Company, 1910s]]

But Kissimmee's heyday was short-lived. Expanding railroads began to challenge the steamships for carrying freight and passengers. By 1884, the South Florida Railroad, now part of the [[Plant System]], had extended its tracks to [[Tampa]]. The [[Panic of 1893]] was the worst [[Depression (economics)|depression]] the U.S. had experienced up to that time, crushing land speculation and unsound debt. Disston closed his Kissimmee land operation. Consecutive 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 [[open range]] [[cattle ranching]].<ref>{{cite news|title=Octogenarian Still Loves Quarter Horses And A Good Rodeo|newspaper=Orlando Sentinel|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1993/12/12/octogenarian-still-loves-quarter-horses-and-a-good-rodeo/|date=December 12, 1993|access-date=December 31, 2016}}</ref><ref name="Cowman">{{cite news|title=A Cattleman for All Seasons Development Can't Fence In Tommy Reaves' Love For The Land|newspaper=Orlando Sentinel|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1990/07/04/a-cattleman-for-all-seasons-development-cant-fence-in-tommy-reaves-love-for-the-land/|date=July 4, 1990|access-date=December 31, 2016}}</ref>

Kissimmee had a population of 4,310 in 1950. At that point, there was some citrus packing as well as ranching.<ref>''Columbia-Lippincott Gazetteer'', p. 956</ref>

Ranching remained an important part of the local economy until [[Walt Disney World]] opened nearby in 1971. After that, tourism and development supplanted cattle ranching to a large measure. But even though the Disney facility took over much of the open range cattle lands, cattle ranches still operate nearby, particularly in southern Osceola County.<ref name="Robison2009">{{cite book|author-first1=Jim|author-last1=Robison|title=Historic Osceola County: An Illustrated History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XyrVQ8sYcwEC&pg=PA79|date=1 January 2009|publisher=HPN Books|isbn=978-1-935377-02-3|pages=79–}}</ref>

The [[1998 Kissimmee tornado outbreak]] killed dozens of people in the area. On August 13, 2004, [[Hurricane Charley]] passed through Kissimmee with winds in excess of {{Convert|100|mph}}, damaging homes and buildings, toppling trees and cutting electrical power to the entire city. [[Kissimmee Utility Authority]] restored power to 54 percent of the residents in the first 72 hours and to 85 percent within one week. Service was restored to all customers on August 28. Three weeks after Hurricane Charley, the area was struck by [[Hurricane Frances]], then [[Hurricane Jeanne]] three weeks later.