St. Cloud was founded in 1909 as a retirement community where Union Civil War veterans could pay $50 for 5-acre lots. If it weren’t for a man named Hamilton Disston, this city probably would have never taken off like it did. When he saw that the production of sugarcane was a big success in Southport, he brought it over to St. Cloud. The first sugar factory - St. Cloud Plantation at East Lake Tohopekaliga - took off, and finally, this growing city needed a name. Its namesake was suggested by Professor Bridges, the principal of Kissimmee High School. It was such a neat name that everyone unanimously agreed to keep it - and that is how the city of St. Cloud was born!