St. Cloud is a city in northern Osceola County, Florida, United States. It is located on the southern shore of East Lake Tohopekaliga in Central Florida, approximately 26mi southeast of Orlando. The city population was 35,183 in the 2010 census, and 40,918 in the 2013 census estimate. The city is part of the Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford metropolitan area.St. Cloud was founded as a retirement community for Civil War union veterans, and gained the nickname "The Friendly Soldier City".HistoryDuring the 1870s, Hamilton Disston of Philadelphia took an interest in developing the region while on fishing trips with Henry Shelton Sanford, founder of the city of Sanford. Disston contracted with the Florida Internal Improvement Fund, then in receivership, to pay $1 million to offset its Civil War and Reconstruction debt. In exchange, Disston would be awarded half the land he drained from the state's swamps. He dug canals and, in 1886-1887, established St. Cloud sugarcane plantation, named after St. Cloud, Minnesota, although many long-time locals state the town was named after Saint-Cloud, France, located fairly close to Paris.
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