[By Jim Malless, President, Historic Lakeland, Inc. · Photography by Ray Stanyard, Thomas K. Mack, Lakeland Florida Public Library and Polk Museum of Art ]

Enhancing Lakeland's Heritage with a Tribute to the Volunteer Spirit

Several years ago, Lakeland adopted a marketing campaign titled "Arts, Architecture and Antiques." The idea was to promote the historic character of the city, its National Historic District collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings on the Florida Southern College campus, the city's growing arts culture and the antiques district in downtown Lakeland. This past April, the city welcomed the newest addition of public art to its architectural history when Albert Paley's sculpture, Tribute to the Volunteer Spirit, was installed in the classical setting of Lakeland's Lake Mirror Promenade.

In the 1920's, Lakeland's civic leaders set out to develop the Lake Mirror Promenade. Today, Lake Mirror Promenade is Florida's most significant example of the City Beautiful movement architectural period and style. Designed by the noted New York landscape architect Charles Wellford Leavitt, the Promenade is a striking example of the classic design principles employed by the nation's leading architects from 1890 to 1930. This period, highlighted by Chicago's Columbian Exposition in 1893, radically altered the course of American architecture and created modern American urban planning. The Promenade circles Lake Mirror on the east side of downtown Lakeland. The loggia defines the west side of the Promenade, rising above Lake Mirror to create a vista to the east. The south side of the Promenade was the pedestrian area, featuring a mix of public and private buildings. And on the east side of the Promenade, a circle of grass was set aside for the installation of a large ornamental monument, or obelisk, an element of the original design that had never been built.

In 1979, several local preservationists formed Historic Lakeland, Inc. to promote the restoration of the 1928 Lake Mirror Promenade. The historic site was deteriorating from the impact of a road built on its south side and a lack of funds to maintain and support the historical structure. The City of Lakeland stabilized the Promenade and restored the lights and the balustrades. Lake Mirror Promenade was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983, and in 1998, the City closed Lemon Street on the south side of Lake Mirror and restored the pedestrian promenade. Two Lakeland families gave the city gifts enabling the construction of Hollis Gardens and the Barnett Family Park, and the city renovated the 1920's Magnolia Building and began development of the Lake Mirror Park.

With all these improvements, a piece of the 1920s Lakeland Civic Center Development was still missing. No plans had been made for the grass circle that had been set aside for a monument in the early designs. David Bunch, a local realtor and member of Historic Lakeland, Inc. suggested that the organization support the placement of an obelisk in the grass circle. Volunteers had begun to raise money for an obelisk, when Dan Stetson, executive director of the Polk Museum of Art, suggested that the space would be a great location for a piece of public art. A steering committee was formed to guide the sculpture project to completion. This marked the first time in Lakeland's history that a private, non-profit group wanted to commission a major piece of public art, and give it to the city.