Business View Magazine | September 2020

204 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE SEPTEMBER 2020 new town on Lake Tohopekaliga a transportation hub for Central Florida. By 1920, Kissimmee’s population increased to more than 2,700 people as a result of the Florida land boom. In the 1930s, the cattle industry began to flourish in the area as well. However, citrus and other crops remained the predominant industry. Also, the Kissimmee Airport construction in the 1940s by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in preparation for the U.S. involvement in World War II caused Kissimmee’s population to increase by 38% to 3,700 residents. City leaders wanted to continue Kissimmee’s prosperous history and encouraged growth by attracting retirees to the area during the 1950s. This effort stimulated growth by nearly 60%. But the modern City of Kissimmee indeed came into its own after Walt Disney bought up thousands of acres of land for his second theme park. The area became home to Walt Disney World, followed by more theme parks, hotels, restaurants, stores, tourist attractions, and many more workers. Since Disney World’s Magic Kingdom debut in October 1971, the City’s community doubled from 7,500 residents to 15,000 by 1980; it doubled again over the next decade to 30,000. By 2008, Kissimmee’s population reached 57,000, and times were good for the entire Central Florida region. But the Great Recession, which began in 2008, devastated the local economy, built on the tourism that supported so many jobs. “The City of Kissimmee is about seven miles from Disney’s door,” notes Belinda Ortiz Kirkegard, Kissimmee’s Economic Development Director. “So, as you can imagine, the City developed as Disney grew and blossomed. But when the economy crashed in 2008-09, the first thing that people eliminated from their home budgets was their vacations, so we suffered miserably as a Central Florida community. In 2009, as we see now during this COVID-19 pandemic, we saw that our region has a more diverse portfolio of industries. Kissimmee has spent the last decade working towards just that.”