Hamilton Disston Revolutionizes Kissimmee

Hamilton Disston Revolutionizes Kissimmee. Kissimmee Lakefront Park. After the Civil War, Hamilton Disston purchased four million acres of marshland in Florida, making him the largest single landowner in the United States. Included in his purchase was the small landing post of Allendale, located on Lake Tohopekaliga’s northwest shore. This outpost had grown by hundreds to become the existing City of Kissimmee. Disston contracted with the State of Florida to drain its southern land and deepen the Kissimmee River. Many steamboats passed through the new waterway with people and goods along with growth of South Florida’s Railroad, the town and Lake Tohopekaliga became a transportation hub of central Florida., Hamilton Disston was the son of Mary Steelman and Henry Disston, a successful industrialist whose firm, later renamed Henry Disston and Sons, eventually became the world's largest saw manufacturing company. As a teenager, Disston became an apprentice in his father's company until he volunteered to join the Union Army during the Civil War a few years later. He served as a private in the Army until the end of the war in 1865. After the war, Disston returned home and worked in the company, becoming its president in 1878 after the death of his father.