Kenansville,

Florida Florida ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders the Gulf of Mexico to the west, Alabama to the northwest, Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia to the north, the Atlantic ...

, United States, is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

in Osceola County. It is approximately sixty-one miles southeast of the

Greater Orlando The Orlando metropolitan area (officially, for U.S. census purposes, the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area) is an inland metropolitan area in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. Its principal cities ...

urban region. The zip code is 34739.

History

Kenansville was founded in the late 1800s when the Okeechobee spur of the

Florida East Coast Railroad The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida, currently owned by Grupo México. Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a p ...

came to the area, bypassing nearby Whittier. The town was mostly centered around cattle and possibly providing services to travelers. The poorly drained, sandy Myakka, Smyrna and Immokalee soil series around town continue to be used as

rangeland Rangelands are grasslands, shrublands, woodlands, wetlands, and deserts that are grazed by domestic livestock or wild animals. Types of rangelands include tallgrass and shortgrass prairies, desert grasslands and shrublands, woodlands, savanna ...

. The town's received a name in 1914 and Kenansville comes from Henry Flagler's third wife Mary Lily Kenan. A legend claims that

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

had stayed at the Heartbreak Hotel and his experience there inspired him to write his song "

Heartbreak Hotel "Heartbreak Hotel" is a song recorded by American singer Elvis Presley. It was released as a single on January 27, 1956, Presley's first on his new record label RCA Victor. It was written by Mae Boren Axton and Tommy Durden, with credit being g ...

". The Old Kenansville Bank, also known as The First Bank of Kenansville, houses The John F. Kerr retrospective on the history of the town. A series of acrylic paintings adorn the bank walls and highlight key moments in Kenansville History. The town declined in importance when the railroad spur was pulled out.

Solar facility

On August 3, 2016, the Osceola Solar Facility opened halfway between Kenansville and St. Cloud. The facility takes up approximately 17 acres of land. It can provide approximately 3.6 megawatts at full power and provide power to 760 homes. It was created as part of

Duke Energy Duke Energy Corporation is an American electric power and natural gas holding company headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company ranked as the 141st largest company in the United States in 2024 – its highest-ever placement on the ...

's plan to switch over to more solar power and less coal power.

Demographics

The population in Kenansville is 453 as of the 2020 United States census. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

is 1.3 people per square mile. The

median age A population pyramid (age structure diagram) or "age-sex pyramid" is a graphical illustration of the distribution of a population (typically that of a country or region of the world) by age groups and sex; it typically takes the shape of a pyramid ...

in Kenansville is 52.1 years old. The number of people per household in Kenansville is 2.1. 54.4% of residents are

married Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

, 16.0% are divorced, 3.9% are married with children, and 16.0% have children, but are single. 87.1% of residents identify as

Non-Hispanic white Non-Hispanic Whites, also referred to as White Anglo Americans or Non-Latino Whites, are White Americans who are classified by the United States census as "White" and not of Hispanic or Latino origin. According to annual estimates from the Unit ...

, 2.1% identify as black or African-American, and 10.8% identify as Hispanic or Latino of any race. 46.2% of residents identify as

female An organism's sex is female ( symbol: ♀) if it produces the ovum (egg cell), the type of gamete (sex cell) that fuses with the male gamete (sperm cell) during sexual reproduction. A female has larger gametes than a male. Females and ...

, and 53.8% identify as

male Male (Planet symbols, symbol: ♂) is the sex of an organism that produces the gamete (sex cell) known as sperm, which fuses with the larger female gamete, or Egg cell, ovum, in the process of fertilisation. A male organism cannot sexual repro ...

Climate

References

External links

Kenansville
at Ghosttowns Unincorporated communities in Osceola County, Florida Greater Orlando Unincorporated communities in Florida {{OsceolaCountyFL-geo-stub