Lake Placid, Florida, United States

History | Geography | Media : Television : Radio : Print | Lake Placid Tower | Historical Society Depot Museum | Wall murals | Toby’s American Clown Museum and School

🇺🇸 Lake Placid is a town in Highlands County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Sebring Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town has two nicknames: "Town of Murals" and "The Caladium Capital of the World". Lake Placid has 47 murals painted on buildings throughout the town, and 98 percent of the world's caladium bulbs come from Lake Placid. There are 14 caladium farms, spanning 1,200 acres, and these plants have been grown in the area since the 1940s. In 2013, Reader's Digest named Lake Placid America's Most Interesting Town.

The town is home to the Lake Placid Tower, a closed concrete block observation tower that is 240 feet (73 m) tall according to early sources or 270 feet (82 m) tall according to late sources.

History Lake Placid, which was formerly called "Lake Stearns", was chartered on December 1, 1925. Dr. Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System, and the founder of the Lake Placid Club in Lake Placid, New York, proposed that Lake Stearns change its name to "Lake Placid". On April 29, 1927, the Lake Stearns Commissioners accepted Dr. Dewey's proposal. Subsequently, they submitted a request to the Florida State Legislature. On June 6, 1927, the community was chartered as the town of Lake Placid.

Geography Lake Placid is located in central Highlands County. U.S. Route 27 passes through the town, leading north 16 miles (26 km) to Sebring, the county seat, and south 58 miles (93 km) to Clewiston.

According to the United States Census Bureau, Lake Placid has a total area of 3.650 square miles (9.45 km²), of which 3.599 square miles (9.32 km²) are land and 0.051 square miles (0.13 km²), or 1.4%, are water.

Media: Television Lake Placid is located in a fringe viewing area; its television stations originate in distant cities. Local television services offer signals from WFTV, the ABC affiliate in Orlando, WINK, the CBS affiliate in Fort Myers/Naples, WFLA, the Tampa Bay area NBC affiliate, and WTVT, the Tampa Bay area Fox affiliate. There are no TV stations whose studios or broadcasting towers are located in Lake Placid.

Media: Radio Lake Placid is part of the Sebring radio market, which is ranked as the 288th largest in the United States by Arbitron. It is the city of license for WWTK 730 kHz and is in that station's primary coverage area, however, there are no radio stations whose studios or broadcasting towers are located in Lake Placid.

Media: Print The Highlands News-Sun, a Sebring-based newspaper published daily, is currently the only commercial newspaper circulating in Lake Placid. The Journal, a locally based weekly publication, had circulated for almost 60 years in Lake Placid, but ceased publication.

Lake Placid Tower The structure, built by Ridge Builders, and previously called the Happiness Tower, is a closed concrete block observation tower located on US Highway 27. It is 240 feet (73.2 m) tall according to early sources (before 1982), although later sources (after 1986) have indicated that it is 270 feet (82.3 m) tall. Because its antennae are 392 feet (119.5 m) above sea level, and it rests on ground 142 feet (43 m) above sea level (392–142=250), only the 240-foot architectural height is plausible. It has three observation levels, at 192 feet (58.5 m) behind windows, at 200 feet (61.0 m) on a balcony, and at 225 feet (68.6 m) atop the elevator shaft. It was designed by architect A. Wynn Howell of Lakeland, built in 1960, and opened January 1, 1961. It was the tallest concrete block structure in the world when it opened.

For years, the tower was open to tourists who could take a 65 second elevator ride to the observation deck. Because of sluggish sales, the tower closed in 2003 and is now a cell phone tower.

Historical Society Depot Museum The Old Lake Placid Atlantic Coast Line Railroad Depot, now the Historical Society Depot Museum of the Lake Placid Historical Society, is a historic Atlantic Coast Line Railroad depot in Lake Placid, Florida. It is located at 12 East Park Street and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Wall murals There are 47 large murals on the sides of buildings in Lake Placid's "uptown" area. These have become a tourist attraction. The Welcome Center sells a booklet with a map of the murals that provides specifics about the history that each one depicts, as well as information about the artist(s).

The murals were planned in 1992 by Harriet and Bob Porter and were painted in subsequent years by various artists, most depicting the history of the area. Some feature the trompe-l'œil technique.

Toby’s American Clown Museum and School Lake Placid is home to the American Clown Museum and School, which was founded in 1993. Here more than 700 significant pieces of clown memorabilia can be found.

America/New_York/Florida 
<b>America/New_York/Florida</b>
Image: Adobe Stock be free #176097794

Lake Placid has a population of over 2,223 people. Lake Placid also forms part of the wider Sebring-Avon Park metropolitan area which has a population of over 73,052 people. Lake Placid is situated near Sebring.

Twin Towns, Sister Cities Lake Placid has links with:

🇺🇸 Lake Placid, USA 🇺🇸 Lompoc, USA
Text Atribution: Wikipedia Text under CC-BY-SA license

Antipodal to Lake Placid is: 98.633,-0.027

Locations Near: Lake Placid -81.3667,0.0272967

🇪🇨 Manta -80.7,-0.95 d: 131.5  

🇪🇨 Esmeraldas -79.656,0.952 d: 216.2  

🇪🇨 El Empalme -79.633,-1.033 d: 226  

🇪🇨 Quevedo -79.45,-1.033 d: 243.6  

🇪🇨 Santo Domingo -79.167,-0.25 d: 246.6  

🇪🇨 Salinas -80.968,-2.207 d: 252.4  

🇪🇨 La Libertad -80.9,-2.233 d: 256.7  

🇪🇨 Santa Elena -80.858,-2.227 d: 256.9  

🇪🇨 Daule -79.98,-1.864 d: 260.7  

🇪🇨 Guayaquil -79.883,-2.183 d: 296  

Antipodal to: Lake Placid 98.633,-0.027

🇮🇩 Teluk Dalam 97.8,0.55 d: 19902.4  

🇮🇩 Padangsidempuan 99.266,1.367 d: 19844.9  

🇮🇩 Bukittinggi 100.367,-0.3 d: 19819.9  

🇮🇩 Padang Panjang 100.429,-0.458 d: 19809.8  

🇮🇩 Padang 100.355,-0.951 d: 19797.8  

🇮🇩 Sawahlunto 100.777,-0.681 d: 19765.9  

🇮🇩 Pekanbaru 101.449,0.51 d: 19696.3  

🇮🇩 Raya 98.85,2.983 d: 19679.5  

🇮🇩 Limapuluh 99.417,3.167 d: 19649.4  

🇮🇩 Sinabang 96.367,2.483 d: 19639  

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