THE LAKE MIRROR PROMENADE: A HISTORY IN PICTURES
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INTRODUCTION
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No one can claim that Tom Appleyard did not dream big dreams. The manager of Lakeland's Chamber of Commerce in the early 1920's had one of his biggest dreams while sitting on the back porch of the Chamber's headquarters, which then overlooked Lake Mirror. He envisioned a plan to beautify the lake and to provide the community with a first class recreation area. Appleyard shared his vision with prominent Lakeland attorney Thomas Bryant, who offered his enthusiastic support. The two later enlisted the support of Sam Larabee, editor and publisher of the Lakeland Evening Ledger. The newspaper became one of the biggest boosters of Appleyard's vision of a "million dollar civic center" on the lake. Thus was the Lake Mirror Promenade, one of Lakeland's most beautiful and visible landmarks, born.
The Civic Center/Promenade was one piece of an ambitious public works program proposed by the City's leaders. The program included, in addition to the Promenade, a new city hall, a new municipal auditorium, a new city hospital, and a public library. All of these projects, with the exception of the Promenade, were completed by 1927 despite the economic downturn resulting from the collapse of the Florida land boom in 1926. The Promenade was completed in 1928.
The City began to purchase parcels of privately held land around Lake Mirror and hired noted New York landscape architect Charles W. Leavitt in 1925 to bring Appleyard's vision to reality. Leavitt's design, completed in 1926, called for a seawall along the northern and southern shores of Lake Mirror. The wall would culminate in an ornate loggia at the foot of Massachusetts Avenue. Across the lake from the loggia would be a smaller ornamental structure, with the whole connected by a broad pedestrian path. The original design also called for an amphitheatre and a sculpture, which were eliminated due to cost considerations.
Construction on the Promenade began in early 1927 and continued to completion despite worsening economic conditions. The Promenade was dedicated in day long festivities on July 4 1928. The ceremony attracted more than 5,000 people to what National Geographic Magazine described in 1930 as "the ornate entrance to some vast Venetian palace."
The Promenade was an impressive entrance to Lakeland and remained so for many years. By the mid- 1970's, however, the Promenade had begun to show its age. There were cracks in the seawall and the ornate lamp posts and balustrades were in need of repair. Members of Historic Lakeland, a group of people dedicated to preserving Lakeland's architectural treasures, began in the late 1970's to lobby the city administration to take steps to restore the Promenade to its former grandeur. The groups success in getting the Promenade listed on the National Register of Historic Places in the early 1980's gave impetus to the effort to restore it.
Beginning in 1983, the Promenade was slowly restored over a 4 year period with a combination of federal grants and city appropriations totaling $750,000. It was re-dedicated on July 3, 1987. The work to return to the Promenade to its 1928 grandeur continues. The Lemon Street extension around the south end of Lake Mirror, which had isolated the Promenade since its construction in the early 1950's, was torn up in the late 1990's. Lake Mirror Park and amphitheater were dedicated in the falll of 1999. Hollis Garden opened on the southeast shore of the lake in 2000. The area on the south side of the lake once again hosted concerts and other public events, much as it did in the early days of the Promenade.
Click on the links below to get a glimpse of what Sam Farabee described in 1928 as "a combination of art with nature to develop a beautiful picture, where one may rest, or play, or dream, or think."
Better yet, drive downtown, park your car, and take a leisurely stroll around the Lake Mirror Promenade.
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