Kissimmee, Florida is a flourishing golf retirement community and popular senior vacation area.

Kissimmee FL History

Kissimmee is a modern spelling of a tribal word from the Jororo, one of Florida's lesser-known tribes. A Spanish mission near a Jororo village was called “Atissimi”. A 1752 Spanish map used the name "Cacema" which evolved into Kissimmee.

Settlement by the Spanish, followed by British and later the Americans, erased the last villages of native Floridians. The city of Kissimmee was originally a small trading post on the northern bank of Lake Tohopekaliga known as the community of Allendale. After the Civil War, this area was included in a purchase of 4,000,000 acres of marshland and plains by Hamilton Disston, the owner of Disston Saw Company in Philadelphia. The sale price for the land totaled $1 million at $.25 an acre! The infusion of $1 million to the state of Florida reportedly rescued the State from financial disaster. In January 1881, Disston contracted to drain the area and deepen the Kissimmee River so that products could be shipped into the Gulf of Mexico and points beyond. Many steamboat captains navigated the chain of lakes leading from Kissimmee to the Gulf.

In 1883, voters voted to incorporate Allendale as Kissimmee City. In 1895, a disastrous freeze led many families to relocate further south and Hamilton Disston's land company stopped payments on bonds and returned to Philadelphia.

Kissimmee Florida – Retirement Community Near Orlando

Kissimmee, Florida is now a popular retirement community conveniently located near Orlando. Senior Travel Genie offers resources for seniors interested in restaurants, golf courses and much more in Kissimmee, FL.