Kissimmee, FL news and local guide

The town's growth came from Hamilton Disston of Philadelphia, who ran his 4-million-acre drainage operation from Kissimmee. Disston had contracted with the financially shaky state to drain its southern lands in return for half of what he drained, a deal that made him the largest single landowner in the United States. His dredging and land sales required a fleet of steamboats, most of them built at the Kissimmee shipyard, and the town became the jumping-off point for the interior. When the South Florida Railroad extended its line from Sanford to Kissimmee, the town on Lake Tohopekaliga became a transportation hub for Central Florida, and on February 12, 1885, the legislature incorporated the Kissimmee City Street Railway. Sources Wikipedia: Kissimmee, Florida