Kissimmee, FL (KIS)

Ticket Revenue

FY 2011

$3,148,467

Station Ridership

FY 2011

47,823

Note: Fiscal year is from
October through September.

The Kissimmee station was built in 1910 for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad. Travelers know the building for its cupola which sports a weathervane in the form of a steam locomotive. Renovations to the structure were undertaken in 1976 and again in 1988. As part of the second rehabilitation, which was led by the Kissimmee/Osceola County Chamber of Commerce, more than 120 workers and volunteers graded the parking lot to facilitate drainage, rebuilt the loading dock and decorated it with latticework, cleaned and painted the building, and installed landscaping such as shrubs and flowers.

During the rehabilitation project, workers discovered a pot-bellied stove and an antique casket loader. Much of the construction material was donated, and additional monies were obtained through community fundraising. In 2004, the canopy along the south platform was severely damaged during a hurricane and was replaced from 2005 to 2006; the station roof was also patched.

Though the Spanish had been in this part of Florida since the early 1700s, the community that became Kissimmee began as a small trading post called Allendale on the northern bank of Lake Tohopekaliga. Before the American Civil War, this area was included in a purchase of four million acres of marshland and plains by a Philadelphia lumber magnate, Hamilton Disston, for a total of $1 million. (This infusion of cash reportedly rescued the state of Florida from financial disaster at that time.) Disston contracted to drain the area and deepen the Kissimmee River, which would then serve as a major steam shipping channel to the Gulf Coast, bringing prosperity to the area for a time, shipping cypress lumber and sugar cane. Competition with the railroads and economic depression forced the steamship connection to finally close in 1893.

In 1883, while still a transportation hub for central Florida, the state legislature incorporated the town as Kissimmee City; it is also the seat of Osceola County. By 1895, along with the closure of the Disston’s steamship transport, bad freezes in back to back years, the local economy shifted to cattle ranching, where it remained the primary local industry until the opening of Walt Disney World in nearby Orlando in 1971. Today, Kissimmee depends greatly on tourism and the nearby resorts, located about 15 miles from Disney World.

Amtrak provides ticketing and baggage services at this facility.

Kissimmee is served by four daily trains.