Kissimmee is a unique town. After all, no place else has a Monument of States. And soon, even if you don’t go down Monument Avenue and check out of the city’s most beloved relics, you’ll be reminded of it from blocks away.
The city of Kissimmee unveiled new Monument of States street markers, replicating ones that were originally installed at multiple corners around Downtown Kissimmee in 1951. Two of those original markers have since stood at the corner of Monument and Church Street near Kissimmee City Hall, and they’ll get some new paint and a little TLC.
Chance to embrace history, and celebrate the 100th anniversary of Lion’s Club of Kissimmee’ founding. In 1951, the Lions Club designed and placed the markers.
Aside from the existing ones at Church and Monument, the markers will be placed at Broadway and Monument (two), Monument and Pleasant Street and Dakin Avenue and Lakeview Drive (two).
The thought is that the markers will form a sort of “Monument of States Trail” from downtown’s main drag of Broadway toward the Monument of States, which the markers are shaped like. The monument was made out of stone from each U.S. state, built in 1943, refurbished in 2001 and added to the National Registry of Historic Places in 2015.
Charles W. Bressler-Pettis, a retired physician living in Florida, was president of the Kissimmee All-States Tourist (KAST) Club at the time and was the inspiration behind the monument. When he died in 1954, a portion of his remains were interred and sealed inside the monument.
The city of Kissimmee partnered with Kissimmee Utility Authority and Kissimmee Main Street to make the monument markers a reality.
