Polk County Historical Museum (Florida)

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Polk County History Center
Polk County History Center side entrance.jpg
Side entrance to the Polk County History Center
USA Florida location map.svg
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Location within Florida
EstablishedSeptember 19, 1998
Location100 East Main Street
Bartow, Florida
Coordinates 27°53′48″N81°50′35″W / 27.89667°N 81.84306°W / 27.89667; -81.84306
Type History [1]
Website www.polkhistorycenter.org

The Polk County History Center is located at 100 East Main Street, Bartow, Florida, in the historic Old Polk County Courthouse. The museum consists of exhibits presenting local and regional history from pre-Columbian to present eras and a library with items pertaining to the history and genealogy of the eastern United States. [2]

Contents

Old Polk County Courthouse at the Polk County History Center Old Polk County Courthouse at the Polk County History Center.jpg
Old Polk County Courthouse at the Polk County History Center

A research project to use Historic Building Information Modeling (HBIM) technology to digitally preserve and reconstruct the OPCC building was conducted to archive the courthouse for preservation, operations, and maintenance. [3]

Historical and Genealogical Library

The Polk County Historical and Genealogical Library was established in 1937 and opened to the public in 1940. The library was originally located in the office of the county attorney, with its location changing to different locations within the Old Polk County Courthouse. The library was moved out of the courthouse to a new location on Hendry Street in 1974, but moved back to the courthouse in 1987. Over a decade-long renovation, the library came to encompass all three floors of the eastern wing of the courthouse. [4]

The library holds more than 40,000 items in its collection, including books, microfilm, and periodicals related to history and genealogy, including newspapers, photographs, maps, directories, property tax rolls, and cemetery records. Library collections are non-circulatory and cannot be checked out. Visitors have included access to Ancestry.com on library computers, and registered users with FamilySearch have access to over 5 million additional genealogical records. Some library resources have been digitized and are available online through digital collections. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polk County, Florida</span> County in Florida

Polk County is located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. The county population was 725,046, as of the 2020 census, and estimated to be 818,330, as of July 1, 2023. Its county seat is Bartow, and its largest city is Lakeland.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bartow, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States

Bartow is a city and the county seat of Polk County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1851 as Fort Blount, the city was renamed in honor of Francis S. Bartow, the first brigade commander of the Confederate Army to die in combat during the American Civil War. It is part of the Lakeland−Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 787,404, as of July 1, 2022. According to the 2020 Census, the city had a population of 19,309.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fort Meade, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States of America

Fort Meade is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. As of 2020, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 5,100. It is part of the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lake Alfred, Florida</span> City in Florida, United States of America

Lake Alfred is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was approximately 6,374 at the 2020 US census.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakeland, Florida</span> Florida in the United States

Lakeland is a city in Central Florida. Located along Interstate 4 east of Tampa and west of Orlando, it is the most populous city and county seat in Polk County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 U.S. Census Bureau release, the city had a population of 112,641. Lakeland is a principal city of the Lakeland–Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town is sometimes locally referred to by the nickname "Swan City" due to its sizeable population of swans, all of whom are descendants of two mute swans given to Lakeland by Queen Elizabeth II in 1957.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bartow High School</span> High school in Bartow, Polk County, Florida, United States

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Old Polk County Courthouse (Florida)</span> United States historic place

The Old Polk County Courthouse is an historic courthouse in Bartow, Florida, located at 100 East Main Street. It was ostensibly designed in the Classical Revival style by architect Edward Columbus Hosford. On August 7, 1989, it was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kentucky Historical Society</span> Agency of Kentucky government

The Kentucky Historical Society (KHS) was originally established in 1836 as a private organization. It is an agency of the Kentucky state government that records and preserves important historical documents, buildings, and artifacts of Kentucky's past. The KHS history campus, located in downtown Frankfort, Kentucky, includes the Thomas D. Clark Center for Kentucky History, the Old State Capitol, and the Kentucky Military History Museum at the State Arsenal. KHS is a part of the Kentucky Tourism-Arts and Heritage Cabinet, is fully accredited by the American Alliance of Museums, is a Smithsonian affiliate, and endorses the History Relevance statement. The mission of the KHS is to educate and engage the public through Kentucky's history in order to confront the challenges of the future. The KHS allows the public access to their resources through the online Library catalog along with the in-person Library.

Polk County Courthouse may refer to:

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Idaho State Historical Society</span>

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The Orange County Regional History Center is a private non-profit history museum located in downtown Orlando, Florida, United States. Located in the historic Orange County Courthouse, the five-story museum consists of exhibits presenting local and regional history starting from 2,000 years ago.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Bartow, Florida</span>

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.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Historical Society of Baltimore County</span> Organization

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References

  1. MuseumsUSA. "Polk County History Center, Bartow, Florida", MuseumsUSA website, 2007. Retrieved on November 18, 2007.
  2. History Center. ", Polk County website, 2023. Retrieved on March 20, 2023.
  3. Foreman, G, and J Liu. “Reality Capture for Historic BIM (HBIM) Development of the Old Polk County Courthouse in Bartow, Florida, USA.” IOP Conference Series. Earth and Environmental Science 1101, no. 8 (2022): 082024–.
  4. "About Us". Polk County Library Cooperative. Archived from the original on October 27, 2013. Retrieved April 26, 2023.
  5. Historical and Genealogical Library. ", Polk County website, 2023. Retrieved on April 26, 2023.