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	Record Group Number:	900000
	Series/Collection Number:	M82- 63
	Creator:
	Title, Dates:	Hotel Kissimmee photograph, ca. 1890.
	Amount:	1 photographs
	Medium Included:	photograph 4" x 7"
	Organization/Arrangement:	Unarranged.
	Restrictions:
	Terms Governing Use:
	Biographical/Historical:	Henry Plant purchased the Hotel Kissimmee in 1890 as part of the Plant System of hotels along the Railroad. Located on Lake Tohopekaliga, Plant advertised the hotel as a hunting, fishing, and watersports haven, unique in that guests could take advantage of both of Plant's rail and steamship systems. A fire in 1906 destroyed the hotel and the Hotel Greystone replaced it. The Greystone was demolished in the late 1960s and replaced by the First Federal Savings and Loan Association Building. After the Civil War, Henry Plant bought several small bankrupt rail companies serving the South and put them together to form the Plant System of Railways. The Plant System provided service from Charleston, South Carolina, through Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. There were also rail connections to New York and other parts of the northeast. Plant recognized that his railroad would be a greater success if combined with steamship and steamboat service and organized the Plant Steamship Line in 1886. The line went to Bermuda, the Bahamas, Cuba, Boston, New Orleans, Jamaica, and Nova Scotia. This system caused a tourist boom in Florida, which required the construction of luxury hotels for the rich northern tourists. Plant built eight hotels at strategic locations along his rail lines in Florida: the Tampa Bay Hotel, the Ocala House, Seminole Hotel, Hotel Kissimmee, Inn at Port Tampa, Hotel Belleview, Hotel Punta Gorda, and the Fort Myers Hotel.
	Summary:	This collection contains one black and white photograph of the Hotel Kissimmee, taken sometime between 1890 and 1906. The exact date of the photograph is unknown; however, Plant refurbished the hotel in 1890 and fire destroyed it in 1906. The image depicts the exterior of the hotel facing the railroad tracks with a young male sitting on the loading dock.
	Finding Aids:
	Additional Physical Form:	This image has been digitized and is available on the Florida Memory web site: https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/26240
	Reproduction Note:
	Location of Originals/Duplicates:
	Associated Materials:
	Language Notes:
	Ownership/Custodial History:
	Publication Note:
	General Note:	Florida Photographic Collection Number P1982-63.
	Electronic Records Access:	https://www.floridamemory.com/items/show/26240
	Subject Access Fields:	Plant, Henry Bradley, 1819-1899. Hotels Florida Tourism Florida. Photographs. aat Kissimmee (Fla.)
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