Photograph of Lake Wales Historic Residential District — Photograph by Ebyabe, CC BY-SA 3.0. Via Wikimedia Commons.

Lake Wales Historic Residental District

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1997. 6 historic topographic surveys show this location, the earliest from 1952.

From the record

“The Lake Wales Historic Residential District is a U.S. historic district located in Lake Wales, Florida. The district is bounded by the Seaboard Airline RR grade, CSX RR tracks, East Polk Avenue, South and North Lake Shore Boulevards.”
Wikipedia article Lake Wales Historic Residential District, CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 78 National Register listings published here for Polk County · listed in 1997 · category: District.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service

The listing

Address. Roughly bounded by the Seaboard Airline RR grade, CSX RR tracks, E. Polk Ave., S. and N. Lake Shore Blvds., Lake Wales, 33853
When was it listed? August 1997
Category. district
Census division. Lake Wales
National Register reference number. 97000858 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Then and now

1952 to 1988

The ground this property stands on, surveyed 36 years apart. Drag the handle to wipe between them. Both sheets are United States Geological Survey originals; neither has been altered.

Topographic sheet covering Lake Wales Historic Residental District, surveyed 1988

Topographic sheet covering Lake Wales Historic Residental District, surveyed 1952

Fires near this property

156 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 156 fires within 5 miles of Lake Wales Historic Residental District between 1992 and 2020, burning about 1,451 acres in total. 10 started naturally. 19 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause	Fires
Debris and open burning	33
Railroad operations and maintenance	32
Missing data/not specified/undetermined	25
Equipment and vehicle use	23
Arson/incendiarism	19
Natural	10
Recreation and ceremony	6
Misuse of fire by a minor	6
Power generation/transmission/distribution	2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

Date	Cause	Size	Reported by	Name on the report
22 September 2003	Debris and open burning	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	FISHER COMMAND
1 September 1999	Railroad operations and maintenance	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named
29 August 2002	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named
31 July 2006	Missing data/not specified/undetermined	7.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	53 CARRIAGE
25 July 1997	Natural	2.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	not named
6 June 1993	Railroad operations and maintenance	4.0 acres	Florida Forest Service	not named
30 June 1998	Natural	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named
3 June 2001	Equipment and vehicle use	under an acre	Florida Forest Service	not named

Every fire recorded in Polk County

Mines and quarries near this property

10 of 13 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 13 workings within 5 miles of Lake Wales Historic Residental District: 5 producers, 3 unknowns, 2 prospects, 2 past producers. 5 still produce. What was taken out: Sand, Diatomite, Sand and Gravel, Construction, Clay. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Site	Commodity	Status
Piper Land Clearing, Inc. - Piper Mine	Clay	Unknown
Independent Mine	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Lake Wales Sand and Gravel Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Past Producer
Sandland Pit	Sand and Gravel, Construction	Producer
Unnamed Diatomite Deposit	Diatomite	Occurrence
Unnamed Diatomite Deposit	Diatomite	Prospect
Unnamed Diatomite Prospect	Diatomite	Prospect
Csr Rinker - Lake Wales	Sand	Producer
E.R. Jahna Industries - Independent Diamond	Sand	Producer
Florida Rock Industries - Sandland Mine	Sand	Producer

Every working recorded in Polk County

Storms near this property

42 since 1995

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Lake Wales, the town this property stands in, in 42 storm reports between 1995 and 2024: 17 hail, 15 thunderstorm wind, 6 tornado, 1 lightning. The reports record 4 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

When	Event	Place named	Harm	What the report says
March 1998	Tornado (F2)	Lake Wales	4 hurt, $2,000,000	no account filed
March 1996	Hail	Lake Wales	$24,000,000	no account filed
November 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$250,000	Thunderstorm winds damaged ten manufactured homes and eight six-unit apartment buildings near Fedhaven. Estimated damage of $250 thousand.
March 1996	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$180,000	no account filed
February 1998	Tornado (F1)	Lake Wales	$175,000	A tornado touched down at Fourth and Johnson Streets in Lake Wales and caused significant roof damage to 25 homes, damaged a few vehicles, downed numerous large tree limbs and power lines along an intermittent path. Five homes in the North Point subdivision incurred moderate roof and lanai damage. One large vehicle was rolled and severely damaged by the tornado before it lifted and dissipated in the Crown Pointe subdivision along Burns Avenue in Lake Wales.
February 1998	Tornado (F0)	Lake Wales	$150,000	A tornado touched down along U.S. Highway 27A and North Crooked Lake Drive and lifted near Gulf View Cutoff Road in Babson Park. Five homes in a Babson Park division incurred roof damage by the tornado while several trees and power lines were downed before the tornado lifted and dissipated.
March 1996	Hail	Lake Wales	$150,000	no account filed
June 2001	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$100,000	The Polk county sheriffs department reported that thunderstorm winds caused moderate to minor damage to twelve mobile homes and caused minor hanger damage at the Lake Wales Municipal Airport.
March 1999	Wildfire	Lake Wales	$60,000	A wildfire consumed nearly five acres of brush and destroyed three mobile homes and a swamp buggy near Lake Wales.
March 1996	Hail	Lake Wales	$50,000	no account filed
January 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$20,000	Thunderstorm winds caused minor roof and structural damage to a few homes along Alternate U.S. Highway 27 in Lake Wales. Also, a few trees and power lines were downed by thunderstorm winds approximately one mile north of Lake Wales.
June 1998	Lightning	Lake Wales	$15,000	Lightning struck, ignited and burned 500 acres of brush west of U.S. Highway 27 between Caloosa Lake and East Lake Buffum Road in Lake Wales.
July 2000	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$10,000	Florida Power Electric Company officials reported that thunderstorms winds downed several large trees and power lines in Lake Wales of eastern Polk county.
April 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$10,000	Thunderstorm winds blew down the wall of an automobile dealership under construction.
July 2024	Tornado (EF0)	West Lake Wales	$5,000	Broadcast media shared video from a social media account depicting a very brief land spout tornado impacting a trailer and small carport-style structure, causing minor damage. No additional damage was reported.
June 1998	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$5,000	Thunderstorm winds tore off the screened porch of a mobile home and destroyed the carport of another.
May 1997	Tornado (F0)	Lake Wales	$5,000	A short-lived tornado touched down and shredded a 14-by-42 foot aluminum and screen enclosure of a home along U.S. Highway 27. The enclosure was tossed over the home and the remains scattered over an area 150 yards downstream from the damage site.
May 1999	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$3,000	The Peace River Electric Company reported several power lines were downed by thunderstorm winds along Old U.S. Highway 27 (Old Scenic Highway) in Lake Wales.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$1,000	Law enforcement reported numerous powerines down.
May 1997	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$1,000	A Skywarn Spotter measured a wind gust of 64 mph and reported trees and power lines downed near Cypress Gardens.
August 1995	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	$500	Thunderstorm winds gusts of 40 to 50 mph blew down a few large trees.
August 2014	Hail	Lake Wales	-	A picture of dime to quarter size hail was sent in by the public near Lake Wales.
June 2011	Hail	West Lake Wales	-	The public reported nickel to quarter sized hail near West Lake Wales Road South.
June 2010	Hail	Lake Wales	-	Nickel-sized hail was reported near Lake Pierce.
June 2009	Hail	Lake Wales	-	Penny sized hail was reported south of Lake Wales.
April 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	-	A trained spotter located on U.S. Highway 27 reported quarter size hail and estimated wind gusts of 60 to 70 MPH.
April 2008	Hail	Lake Wales	-	A trained spotter located on U.S. Highway 27 reported quarter size hail and estimated wind gusts of 60 to 70 MPH.
April 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	-	The public reported an estimated wind gust of 60 MPH and a five minute duration of pea to dime size hail.
July 2008	Heavy Rain	Lake Wales	-	The public reported 7.31 inches of rain fell in 24 hours near Blue Lake south of Lake Wales.
June 2008	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	-	There were several public reports of 60 to 70 mph wind gusts around Lake Wales.
May 2007	Hail	Lake Wales	-	Nickel size hail was reported by the public along Highway 60 northwest of Inidan Lakes Estates and again 10 miles east of Lake Wales.
July 2007	Hail	Lake Wales	-	Quarter size hail damaged vehicles at a soft ball tournament.
February 2006	Hail	Lake Wales	-	Hail dinged a metal porch roof but did not damage vehicles in the yard.
August 2004	Tornado (F0)	Lake Wales	-	The public reported a brief tornado in Lake Wales.
August 1999	Hail	Lake Wales	-	Quarter sized hail was reported in Lake Wales by Skywarn Spotters.
May 1998	Hail	Lake Wales	-	Quarter sized hail was reported near the intersection of U.S. Highway 27 and State Road 60 by Skywarn Spotters.
February 1998	Waterspout	Lake Wales	-	A large waterspout touched down on Crooked Lake east of U.S. Highway 27 and south of County Road 640. The waterspout moved onshore near North Crooked Lake Drive.
July 1997	Hail	Lake Wales	-	Nickel sized hail was reported by the Lake Wales Police Department along U.S. Highway 27.
May 1997	Hail	Lake Wales	-	Dime sized hail was reported by a Skywarn Spotter along U.S. Highway 27.
May 2005	Hail	Lake Wales	-	no account filed
July 2002	Thunderstorm Wind	Lake Wales	-	no account filed
March 1996	Hail	Lake Wales	-	no account filed

Every storm recorded in Polk County

Maps showing this location

6 surveys

United States Geological Survey topographic sheets whose coverage includes this point. Matched by taking the middle of the area the National Park Service maps for this listing, then testing that coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet.

1952 USGS Lake Wales quadrangle1:24000 - 9 printings
1956 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000 - 4 printings
1958 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000
1959 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000 - 3 printings
1978 USGS Bartow quadrangle1:100000 - 2 printings
1988 USGS Fort Pierce quadrangle1:250000

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Property	Distance	Listed
G. V. Tillman House	0.1 miles	1990
C. L. Johnson House	0.1 miles	1989
First Baptist Church	0.2 miles	1990
Lake Wales Commercial Historic District	0.2 miles	1990
Lake Wales City Hall	0.3 miles	1990
Dixie Walesbilt Hotel	0.4 miles	1990

Sources for this property

National Archives record	The nomination case file for reference 97000858 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia article	Community-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
Polk County	All 78 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.