Docked In Kissimmee

In the late 1800’s, Kissimmee developed almost on the spot. This was due to the fact that Kissimmee was headquarters to Hamilton Disston. Additionally, newcomers from east Mississippi River wanted a fresh start and started heading south to Central Florida. The economy was booming so much that media and advertisement was produce to encourage people to make easy money in Kissimmee. Money could be made by steamboat trading , hauling goods in railroads or even hunting panthers for five-dollar bounties ; among other professions like what Kissimmee is mostly known for tending and raising cattle.

Disston’s success in dredging and steamboat commerce brought new wealth and development to the relative small town. That growth caught the attention of federal government. At the time, the leading party was the Republican Party. They made the choice of withdrawing the last federal troops from the South and brought federal monetary support to rebuild the South. However, In 1876 the leading party changed over to Democratic. The Democrat party in the other hand had the agenda to attract settlers to the area between St. John’s and the Kissimmee River. From that point on progress took over the small town; more than five-hundread miles of railroad in the direction of north and south covered a lot of the land. This included Osceola County. Osceola County’s first chairman was Rufus E. Rose one of the new settlers who was attracted to the town. Osceola County was just one of the connecting railroads. Railroads connected from Kissimmee to Sandford; Sandford to Tampa Bay; Kissimmee to Windemere and the Kissimmee steamboat whaves to the railroad depot to the sugar plantations near St. Cloud and Narcoossee.

Robison, J. (2008). Chapter Two: Kissimmee’s Modern Era. In Kissimmee, 125 years of its people and progress (pp. 22–23). essay, Donning Co. Publishers.