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- The history of Bartow, Florida spans over 150 years, although humans have inhabited the area for close to 12,000 years. Established in 1851 by Redding Blount, the city has gone from being a small frontier outpost vulnerable to Seminole Indian attack to being the county seat of Polk County, a county with more than half a million people. Located near the geographic centers of both peninsular Florida and Polk County, Bartow has always been in the middle of the big changes which have taken place in Florida even though the city has always tried to maintain the status quo; located at the headwaters of the Peace River less than an hour from the bustling metropolises of Tampa and Orlando, Bartow has remained a small city in spite of the rapid growth around it. Ironically, Bartow may be on the verge of growing just as the rest of Florida's growth is starting to slow down. With the annexation of over 18,000 acres of former phosphate land owned by the Clear Creek Development Company, Bartow has more than quadrupled in size and is projected to triple in population within the next twenty years. There is an old Bartow saying that no town has produced more prominent people per capita since Jamestown. That may be a point which is open to debate, but there is no doubt that Bartow has produced its share of prominent people in a myriad number of ways; Former Florida governor and U.S. senator Spessard Holland, controversial Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris, Playboy Playmate Jaime Faith Edmondson, Tony-winning actress Karen Olivo, Winston Cup Stock Car Driver Rick Wilson, iconoclast Marshall Ledbetter, Pro Bowl linebacker Ray Lewis, motorcross legend Bubba Stewart, and three United States generals are among the people who were born in, raised in, or in some way have a connection with the City of Oaks and Azaleas. (en)
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