LAKELAND

city, Polk county, central Florida, U.S., 32 miles (51 km) northeast of Tampa. Founded in 1883, it was named for the many lakes in the area, several of them within city limits. Pebble phosphate mining and the citrus industry are important, and the city is the seat of the regulatory Florida Citrus Commission. Lakeland is also a popular winter resort, and its Civic Center houses a large sports-recreation-convention complex. It is the seat of Southeastern College of the Assemblies of God (1935) and Florida Southern College (1885), whose campus has a large concentration of buildings designed by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Inc. 1885. Pop. (1992 est.) city, 73,575; LakelandWinter Haven MSA, 422,603.