Kissimmee, Florida, now Disney World’s closest neighbor, was the first to enact an ordinance banning flying machines. It was 1908 and nobody in the town of 2,000 had seen a flying machine, but rumors spread fast. These things were dangerous. At any time, one could drop from the sky and land on someone piloting a driving machine down the city’s dirt streets. The town council’s ordnance forbade any "airships, aeroplanes, balloons, heliocopters and ornithopters" from flying through the city’s airspace up to 25 miles from the ground. Embedded in the new law was a proviso to buy “an aeroplane of approved type” to catch aerial scofflaws. That didn’t prevent a terrible tragedy. An aeroplane struck and killed a local cow on its first take-off in 1911. The pilot was there to promote a flying school intended to train aeronauts to fly anywhere but over Kissimmee, the cow capital of Florida.
3 comments:
Love it!
As you no doubt know, the Kissimmee High School mascot is the Kowboy.
Wow, great story Mike. Did not know that Kissimmee was at one time the Cow Capital of Florida. Pairs well with Spud, Fl. Potato Capital of the World.
Six years ago, Chris and I spent a couple of days in Orlando staying at a motel eerily similar to the one in "The Florida Project." Harangued on all sides by timeshare condo salespeople, we escaped to the Osceola County History Museum where we learned all about Florida Kowboys. Nice museum, great exhibits. Felt right at home. Speaking of potatoes: Don't know much about Spud, Fla., but the Father Lopez Fightin' Green Wave played the Hastings Fightin' Spudsters every year in basketball. You could get some great French Fries in Hastings.
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