Kissimmee, Florida
City
Kissimmee City Hall in 2017
Seal
Motto:  "A community of neighborhoods for families!"
Interactive map of Kissimmee
Kissimmee, Florida Show map of Florida Kissimmee, Florida Show map of the United States Kissimmee, Florida Show map of North America
Coordinates: 28°18′15″N 81°24′46″W / 28.30417°N 81.41278°W / 28.30417; -81.41278
Country	United States
State	Florida
County	Osceola
Incorporated	1883
Government
• Type	Commission-Manager
• Mayor	Olga Gonzalez
• Vice Mayor	Olga Lucia Castaño
• Commissioners	Janette Martinez, Carlos Alvarez III, and Mayor Pro Tem Angela Eady
• City Manager	Mike Steigerwald
• City Clerk	Linda Hansell
Area [1]
• City	22.20 sq mi (57.50 km2)
• Land	21.50 sq mi (55.69 km2)
• Water	0.70 sq mi (1.81 km2)  3.7%
Elevation [3]	72 ft (22 m)
Population  (2020)
• City	79,226
• Density	3,684.76/sq mi (1,422.67/km2)
• Urban	418,404 (US: 100th)[2]
• Urban density	2,589.4/sq mi (999.8/km2)
• Metro	2,673,376 (US: 23rd)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP codes	34741-34747, 34758-34759
Area code(s)	321, 407, 689
FIPS code	12-36950
GNIS feature ID	2404839[3]
Website	www.kissimmee.gov

Kissimmee (/kɪˈsɪmi/ ^ⓘ kih-SIM-ee)^[4] is the largest city and county seat^[5] of Osceola County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the population was 79,226. It is a Principal City of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida, Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2020 population of 2,673,376. The Census Bureau defines an urban area with Kissimmee as the principal city, which is separated from the Orlando urban area. The Kissimmee–St. Cloud, FL urban area had a 2020 population of 418,404, making it the 100th largest in the United States.^[2]

History

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.^[6] 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.^[7] The etymology of the name Kissimmee is debated, apart from general agreement that it is Native American in origin.^[8] Its growth can be credited to Hamilton Disston of Philadelphia, who based his four-million acre^[9] (8,000 km²) 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 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.

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 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.^[10][11]

Kissimmee had a population of 4,310 in 1950. At that point there was some citrus packing as well as ranching.^[12]

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.^[13]

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 100 miles per hour (160 km/h), 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.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 17.32 square miles (44.9 km²), of which 16.7 square miles (43 km²) is land and 0.6 square miles (2 km²) is water (3.7%).^[14] Kissimmee and St. Cloud are the county's only incorporated settlements. They are in proximity to each other along U.S. Highways 192 and 441.

A large geographical area of unincorporated Osceola County is also referred to as Kissimmee. This includes most of the 192 corridor west of the city border to Highway 27, areas north of the city to Hunters Creek, and areas south of the city to Poinciana.

The city is mostly built on deep sand which is poorly drained in its natural state. The most common soil series is Myakka.

City water resources

Drained by the Kissimmee River, the city is on the northwest shore of Lake Tohopekaliga (locally called Lake Toho, West Lake Toho, or simply West Lake) in central Florida. Shingle Creek, largely considered the headwaters of the Everglades, also runs through the city, and features a canoe/kayak trail that runs from Steffe Landing on US 192 and ends in Lake Tohopekaliga.

Downtown

The downtown area lies near the intersection of U.S. Highway 17/92 and U.S. Highway 192. Downtown Kissimmee has no skyscrapers; most of the buildings are two or three stories high. The biggest and the tallest building downtown is the Osceola County courthouse. The main thoroughfare follows Highway 17/Highway 92 through the city's center and is a combination of three streets: Main Street, Broadway Street, and Emmett Street. The downtown area consists largely of restaurants, small shops, and historic residences. The University of Central Florida has a business incubator in the area that is an important part of the economic engine downtown.^[15]

Climate

The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild, dry, and sunny winters. According to the Köppen climate classification system, Kissimmee has a humid subtropical climate (Cfa).

Demographics

2010 and 2020 census