County Past
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Polk County, Florida

Historic newspapers, landmarks, and county history layers for genealogists and local historians.

—newspaper titles
—digitized titles
77historic places
—earliest paper
1861formed
725,046pop. 2020
43cemeteries
—CW battlefields

At a glance

Summary

The National Register of Historic Places includes 77 listed properties in the county, first listed in 1972; 2 are also National Historic Landmarks. Most listings are in or near Lake Wales, Lakeland, Bartow.

Summary generated automatically from the source data on this page.

Newspapers

Library of Congress

Newspaper directory data for Florida is not yet loaded on this site. Browse Polk titles at the Library of Congress.

National Register of Historic Places

NPS NRHP

42 of 77 listings mapped; some locations are restricted by NPS to protect sensitive sites.

77 listed properties
PropertyCityTypeListed
Atlantic Coast Line Railroad DepotLake WalesBuilding1990
Auburndale Citrus Growers Association Packing HouseAuburndaleBuilding1997
Auburndale City HallAuburndaleBuilding2013
Babson Park Woman's ClubBabson ParkBuilding1997
Bartow Downtown Commercial DistrictBartowDistrict1993
Baynard, Ephriam M., HouseAuburndaleBuilding2001
Beacon Hill-Alta Vista Residential DistrictLakelandDistrict1993
Biltmore-Cumberland Historic DistrictLakelandDistrict2004
Bok Mountain Lake Sanctuary and Singing Tower NHLLake WalesStructure1972
Brown, Lawrence, HouseBartowBuilding2001
Bullard, B. K., HouseLake WalesBuilding1990
Casa De JosefinaLake WalesBuilding1975
Central Avenue SchoolLakelandBuilding1999
Central Grammar School, OldHaines CityBuilding1994
Chalet SuzanneLake WalesDistrict1990
Christ ChurchFort MeadeBuilding1976
Church of the Holy SpiritLake WalesBuilding1990
Cleveland Court SchoolLakelandBuilding1999
Cox, John F., Grammar SchoolLakelandBuilding1999
Craney Spec Houses Historic DistrictWinter HavenBuilding2019
Cypress GardensWinter HavenDistrict2014
Davenport Historic DistrictDavenportDistrict1997
Dixie Walesbilt HotelLake WalesBuilding1990
Dixieland Historic DistrictLakelandDistrict1994
Downtown Haines City Commercial DistrictHaines CityDistrict1994
Downtown Winter Haven Historic DistrictWinter HavenDistrict2002
Dundee ACL Railroad Depot, OldDundeeBuilding2001
East Lake Morton Residential DistrictLakelandDistrict1993
El RetiroLake WalesBuilding1985
Evans, John H., HouseLake AlfredBuilding2022
First Baptist ChurchLake WalesBuilding1990
Florida Southern College Architectural District NHLLakelandDistrict1975
Fort Meade Historic DistrictFort MeadeDistrict1994
Frostproof High School, OldFrostproofBuilding1997
Griffin Grammar SchoolLakelandBuilding2007
Haines City National Guard Armory, OldHaines CityBuilding1994
Henley Field Ball ParkLakelandBuilding1997
Holland, Benjamin Franklin, HouseBartowBuilding1975
Homeland SchoolHomelandBuilding2007
Interlaken Historic Residential DistrictWinter HavenDistrict2002
Jenks, Holland, HouseAuburndaleBuilding1996
Johnson, C. L., HouseLake WalesBuilding1989
Lake Hunter Terrace Historic DistrictLakelandDistrict2002
Lake Mirror PromenadeLakelandStructure1983
Lake Wales City HallLake WalesBuilding1990
Lake Wales Commercial Historic DistrictLake WalesDistrict1990
Lake Wales Historic Residental DistrictLake WalesDistrict1997
Lake of the Hills Community ClubLake WalesBuilding2000
Lakeland High School, OldLakelandBuilding1993
Lewis, W. Henry, HouseFort MeadeBuilding2012
Mann ManorBartowBuilding2011
Mountain Lake Colony HouseLake WalesBuilding1991
Mountain Lake Estates Historic DistrictLake WalesDistrict1993
Munn Park Historic DistrictLakelandDistrict1997
North Avenue Historic DistrictLake WalesDistrict2001
Northeast Bartow Residential DistrictBartowDistrict1993
Oak Hill CemeteryBartowSite2003
Oates BuildingLakelandBuilding1995
Perry HouseLakelandBuilding2022
Polk County Courthouse, OldBartowBuilding1989
Polk HotelHaines CityBuilding1994
Polk Theatre and Office BuildingLakelandBuilding1993
Pope Avenue Historic DistrictWinter HavenDistrict2001
Roosevelt SchoolLake WalesBuilding2001
Shell Hammock LandingLake WalesBuilding2019
South Bartow Residential DistrictBartowDistrict1993
South Florida Military CollegeBartowBuilding1972
South Lake Morton Historic DistrictLakelandDistrict1985
Spook HillLake WalesSite2019
St. Mark's Episcopal ChurchHaines CityBuilding1994
Surveyor's Lake SchoolhouseBartowBuilding2024
Swearingen, John J., HouseBartowBuilding1982
Thompson and Company Cigar FactoryBartowBuilding2002
Tillman, G. V., HouseLake WalesBuilding1990
Winston SchoolLakelandBuilding2001
Winter Haven Heights Historic Residential DistrictWinter HavenDistrict2000
Woman's Club of Winter HavenWinter HavenBuilding1998

Source: National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Property links open NRHP nomination files at the National Archives.

County formation

Newberry AHCB

Polk was formed in 1861 (1861-02-08) from Brevard, Hillsborough.

POLK created from BREVARD and HILLSBOROUGH.

Source: Newberry Library, Atlas of Historical County Boundaries.

Population by decade

Census

Polk County population from 1870 to 2020 (Census historical series).

725k364k3,1691870188019201950196020002020
1870188019001920194019501960198020002020
3,1693,18112,47238,66186,665123,997195,139321,652483,924725,046

Sources: U.S. Census Bureau historical county population (Forstall 1790–1990) and public-domain / CC0 county population series through 2020.

Cemeteries & historical places

USGS GNIS

43 cemeteries and 3 historical populated places (ghost towns / former settlements) recorded in USGS GNIS for this county.

Cemeteries — 43 of 43 listed
NameLatLon
Auburndale Memorial Park28.05327-81.8108
Davenport Evergreen Cemetery28.18529-81.59674
Eagle Lake Cemetery27.97196-81.76647
Eden Cemetery27.7203-81.62813
Evergreen Cemetery27.8972-81.85457
Evergreen Cemetery27.75434-81.78691
Fitzgerald Cemetery27.96863-81.9573
Forest Hill Cemetery28.0989-81.61146
Fort Meade Cemetery27.73671-81.80112
Gandy Cemetery27.91613-81.78313
Gapway Cemetery28.02606-81.92383
Garden Cemetery27.89364-81.60091
Glen Abbey Memorial Gardens28.03478-81.81884
Glen Abbey Memorial Gardens28.03541-81.81925
Glover Cemetery27.99529-81.80897
Griffin Cemetery28.09196-81.99508
Hancock Cemetery27.7543-81.82857
Lakeland Memorial Gardens28.01639-81.91786
Lakeside Memorial Park28.04891-81.73397
Lakeview Cemetery28.05191-81.94278
Lincoln Park Cemetery28.05919-81.78119
Little Alafia Cemetery27.88209-82.00773
Malloy Cemetery27.97478-81.88229
Medulla Cemetery27.96728-81.96133
Mount Olive Cemetery27.81947-81.96703
New Hope Cemetery27.72919-81.83647
Oak Grove Cemetery28.09946-81.71341
Oak Hill Cemetery27.89358-81.84764
Oak Hill Cemetery27.98169-81.88536
Oakland Cemetery28.00863-81.73341
Palm Cemetery27.89706-81.85607
Peace Creek Cemetery27.85337-81.78621
Pleasant Grove Cemetery27.74891-81.76536
Prairie Cemetery27.91363-81.99397
Ret Row Cemetery28.16647-81.59423
Roselawn Cemetery28.05085-81.94425
Silver Lake Cemetery27.71641-81.53563
Springhead Cemetery27.98063-82.05499
Stephenson Cemetery28.0403-81.96536
Temple Emmanuel Cemetery27.98169-81.88758
Tiger Flowers Cemetery28.05317-81.94405
Wildwood Cemetery27.88794-81.85323
Willow Oak CemeteryNoneNone
Historical populated places — 3 of 3
NameLatLon
Cacema Town27.76697-81.19979
Hitchapukasse28.16696-82.03314
Oponys Town27.78364-81.7998

Source: USGS Geographic Names Information System (public domain). Cemeteries from the 2021 NationalFile archive; historical places from GNIS HistoricalFeatures topical extract.

Historical markers

HMdb link

Marker text and photos from the Historical Marker Database (HMdb) are not embedded here. HMdb allows non-commercial reuse with attribution, but commercial/compensated use needs written permission; this is a commercial site, so we only link out.

Search HMdb for Polk County, Florida

Terms: hmdb.org/copyright.asp. Linking is encouraged by HMdb.