Our family villa is located on the Indian Point sub division in Kissimmee and is only 8 miles from the Disney World theme parks. As most people don’t know much about Kissimmee itself, here is a little information about the City and it’s history.

Kissimmee is 17 miles S of Orlando, and 68 miles E of Tampa.  It’s located in Osceola County in Central Florida along the shore of Lake Tohopekaliga, which is locally referred to as Lake Toho. It has a large Hispanic population which includes a large number of Puerto Ricans.

Kissimmee History

The area was established in the mid-19th century and was known as Allendale. Kissimmee was incorporated as a city in 1883. Hamilton Disston was mainly responsible for the initial growth of the municipality. His large drainage business was located in Kissimmee. Disston had a contract with Florida to drain the southern portion of the state, in return for owning half of the acreage he successfully drained.He also deepened the Kissimmee River, so products could be shipped into the Gulf of Mexico and points beyond and  became one of the largest single landowners in the nation.

The Kissimmee shipyard produced steamboats to transport people as well as goods for Disston’s dredging and land speculation enterprises. The steamships lost a significant amount of business due to the popularity of trains for transporting people and goods. The Kissimmee area became a prominent location for raising cattle.

In 1884 W.B. Makinson, Sr. opens Makinson Hardware in downtown Kissimmee, which remains Florida’s oldest operating hardware store.

 Disney World opened in 1971 and tourism and development became the main factors for the economy and the cattle industry decreased in importance.

 In 2004 (while our family were at our villa) Hurricane Charlie caused major damage to homes and buildings. Luckily our villa only suffered superficial damage.

Kissimmee Activities

The Osceola County Softball Complex is a popular location and includes five quality softball fields. The Austin-Tindall Regional Park is popular for sports activities.

The city features a large water park and numerous golf courses including Kissimmee Golf Club, Ginn Reunion Resort Golf Course and Kissimmee Oaks Golf Club.

 Excellent fishing opportunities are available at Lake Toho.

Visitors have opportunities to take a tour of the region’s working cattle ranches and the Boggy Creek wetlands.

Close by, Lake Buena Vista is popular for outdoor activities. The Kissimmee Chain of Lakes is well known for its largemouth bass fishing. Residents and visitors can easily take day trips to Melbourne Beach and other shoreline destinations.

Kissimmee Attractions

• Oldtown.
• Osceola Centre for the Arts.
• Osceola County Historical Society & Museum.
• The Houston Astros participate in Spring Training in Kissimmee at the Osceola County Stadium.
• Silver Spurs Arena is popular for concerts and other events.
• Warbird Museum restores World War II aircraft to flying condition. Tours are available of the work shops, planes and aircraft which are being restored.
• Osceola County Historic Courthouse.
• A world of Orchids.
• Green Meadows Petting Farm.
• Pirate’s Island Adventure Golf.
• Jungleland Zoo.