Lakeland, Florida Business Directory
The city of Swans, Scenery and Style!
Lakeland, established in 1861 is the hub between Tampa and Orlando, Florida. It’s known for the beautiful buildings, 38 named lakes and the swans. The swans first appeared in the early 1900’s, around 1923 to be exact and have made quite a name for themselves. You’ll see numerous swan sculptures when driving thru our city, especially near downtown, but don’t be surprised when you come across the real beauties as well. The city tries to keep the swan population to around 75. The downtown area has grown into a hot spot for shopping, dining and nightlife with rich design and culture. The buildings tell a story of our city’s past. This list of structures in Lakeland on the National Register of Historic Places is pretty long but does include places like the Terrace Hotel, Polk Theatre, Promenade of Lake Mirror and Polk Museum of Art. All built during the 1920s and 1940s.
The Cleveland Indians held spring training there from 1923 to 1927 at Henley Field Ball Park. The Detroit Tigers ( which owns the city’s Florida State League team, the Lakeland Flying Tigers ) has continued to train at Lakeland Joker Marchant Stadium since 1934. Another arrival in the 1930’s was the renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Florida Southern requested him to design a ” Great Education Temple in Florida ” and boy did he ever! Frank Lloyd Wright worked on his creation for 20 years and now it is the largest one-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world!
Taste of History & Fun Facts: Guess who founded the area? Are you aware of the beautiful downtown Munn Park? A Kentucky resident, Abraham Munn purchased 80 acres in what we now call downtown Lakeland in the year 1882. Other names were considered tho and luckily for us the name Lakeland was chosen. Munnville, Red Bug and Rome City doesn’t even sound right! Although the county seat was established after the American Civil War in Bartow, it wasn’t until the 1870’s when settlers first came and development finally started in 1884 once the rail lines reached into Lakeland.
