>>This program is brought to you in part by the Paul B.

Hunter and Constance D. Hunter Charitable Foundation, a proud partner of WUCF, and the Central Florida community.

>>Up next on this episode of Florida Road Trip... >>Paying tribute to the history here in regards to World War II and the veterans that laid the foundation for our military was really important for our leadership.

>>We visit a ballpark honoring the location's rich history.

Plus... >>Many, many years ago, the swan keeper of the swans from England came over and blessed our swan flock.

>>We learned the ties to Queen Elizabeth in this Central Florida city.

Buckle up.

Florida Road Trip is back on the road and heading to Lakeland.

♪♪ Hi there and thanks for joining us for this edition of Florida Road Trip.

I'm Scott Fais and I'm excited to be your historical tour guide as we explore Lakeland together.

This region's geographical location is one of its biggest draws.

Lakeland's numerous lakes and fertile soil are why folks first started to move here in the 1800s.

>>We just had a bunch of farmers here, like maybe 100 families initially.

So when they heard that there might be a train coming into the area is when ever the concept of a city that would come to be called Lakeland was founded.

>>The vote to incorporate the city took place on January 1st, 1885.

>>34 people voted.

22 voted yes and 12 voted no.

>>Not unlike many areas of the Sunshine State, the railroad would be a game changer for Lakeland.

The train could bring people to and from the undeveloped area, but also be the means to move goods from local industries like citrus, lumber and phosphate.

The original railway plans had a few troubling issues.

First, plans didn't have railroad tracks coming through Lakeland, and Henry Plant didn't have a workforce to build it.

>>He had worked on other railroads before and he put out the all call and it was responded by about 200, 250 black males that had worked on other railroads.

They came and they stayed in a community that they called at the time, Rome City.

They stayed and they took other jobs with the railroad.

They brought their families and that Rome City became Lakeland's first black community.

Later on, that area came to be called Moorehead.

>>Railroad was the one that kind of birthed the city of Lakeland, as it would be.

And the area now where Bonnet Springs Park is located, there was an area called Robinson's Quarters.

That particular area, as a child growing up, I can remember going there to a church that we attended.

But the actual park where it is right now, that was a railroad yard.

So I can remember, you know, family members and other people I knew that worked in the rail yard.

>>The railroad led the boom, and by 1925, Lakeland was the eighth largest city in the state.

It also became the third city to have electricity.

>>One of our most prominent architectural features is the lake near Promenade that has always been electrified, and it sits right near where the electric plant was.

>>There's about 2,000 municipalities that exist today that are owned electric utilities by the city themselves.

Because we were early, that's why we've remained owned by the city.

Here is why that so important.

Our building gives back about 30 to $33 million a year currently on a dividend basis to the city.

So that lowers our tax base.

Whatever dividends we get, we put back into things like parks and we put back into into our budget so that we can reduce some of the expenses that people would have to bear otherwise.

>>One of those parks was the first of its kind in the state of Florida.

The park was so well-received, other cities have borrowed its design.

>>So we have a park called Common Ground, and it was the first all inclusive park made for children of all abilities.

It was totally designed so you could have someone that may be mobility challenged, or vision challenged, and then children that don't have any disabilities could all play in one area.

>>I think one of the high values that we have as a city is that we work to honor everyone.

And you can say that, but that's really hard to do.

And so in our sensitivity to that, that means you have to look across the board at all citizens in terms of their needs.

>>Another park honoring the people of Lakeland is Veterans' Memorial Park.

You'll find many historical monuments dedicated to those who have bravely served our nation.

The Buffalo soldiers are honored here, along with other spots, reminding folks of their connection to the city.

>>There's a marker on Lake Wire on the north side of the lake that depicts the Buffalo soldiers coming in during the time of Spanish American War and settled here in Lakeland.

And that's where the encampment was.

>>The park is a way to remember the past, but also bring hope for tomorrow.

A common thread found throughout the city.

>>We are a city that love each other.

That really - and this sounds almost quirky when you say it.

And so and you would think, well, of course you're the mayor.

You're going to say that.

But we really work across the city to appreciate people's varying values.

We want a wide breadth of tolerances for differences in people's values and opinions.

If you're really going to work on something that's difficult to replicate, it's how you treat one another.

Having this whole philanthropic orientation we have, we are quick to fund something that's a need in the city.

And that was really patterned a lot by the Jenkins family with Publix and others along the way.

>>I want to say one of the most well-known noted people that lived in Lakeland was George Jenkins, the founder of Publix.

He lived here.

He grew his business here, we are the corporate headquarters for Publix.

And his contribution still has tremendous impact on the Lakeland community.

>>In fact, one of the old Publix stores is now the home to the Polk County Tax Collector's office, complete with its original design still intact.

Less than a mile from here is another historic building, the Polk Theater.

It opened in December 1928 and is still an operating theater today.

>>Early in his career, Elvis Presley came and performed at the theater.

He was virtually an unknown.

So what people may not know is Elvis came two other times, and one of those times are then Mayor Carl Dicks decided that he would get one of the keys to the city engraved with his name on it and present it to Elvis.

Unfortunately, the night of the concert, he was told that Elvis did not take keys of the city.

>>Elvis may have left his key behind, but leaders here know what's key to keep Lakeland the unique city that it is.

>>It takes all of us to work together to make a wholesome and I think, productive community.

♪♪ >>15 Major League Baseball teams hold their spring training games right here in the Sunshine State ahead of opening day each year.

Baseball is affectionately known as America's favorite pastime.

And here at Tiger Town, the past is honored.

>>We're the longest tenured Major League Baseball team with a host city for spring training.

>>The city of Lakeland owns all the fields and buildings, while the Detroit Tigers organization runs the baseball operations.

>>Our relationship with the Detroit Tigers has gone back to 1934.

It's the oldest relationship between a major League Baseball team and the city.

Basically, 87 years.

We missed three years during World War II.

And then outside of that, it's been continuous and from there on.

>>Where the stadium is now is where the British and American fighter pilots learned to fly.

>>In 1937, pre-World War two, Albert Lodwick created this airfield here now we stand on.

And actually where we're standing at right now is actually one of the runways.

There were three hangars, all of which that are still standing and just one section of the runway left.

We immortalized it by putting up a makeshift runway in right field above where the people walk and have concession areas where the actual coordinates are actually real.

We didn't want the history of Tiger Town to go away.

>>The Detroit Tigers organization kept history alive by naming the minor league team the Flying Tigers.

We wanted to make sure that we honored the servicemen and women who started and built the foundation for the United States Air Force here and helped British pilots train during World War Two.

So for us to combine that history with the military and the Detroit Tigers into the unique name of the Flying Tigers, it was a no brainer.

It helped combine the passion for this that the community has for both.

>>And they've had visitors return who trained at the airfield.

>>We had a pilot that came and he was over 100 years old that he was actually here during that time.

And he walked me around those hangars and showed me how everything was and where it was all laid out.

>>Across from the hangars is the entrance to the stadium.

Out front is a statue of George Jenkins and Joker Marchant built in 2017.

>>Joker and George Jenkins, who is the president and owner of Publix Supermarkets, had a special relationship.

>>Joker Marchant was named the first Parks and Recreation Director for the City of Lakeland in 1962.

A community leader still remembered to this day.

>>He actually hired me.

The thing about it was, is that he was a character.

He was the first Parks and Recreation Director, and he was beloved by all.

When we built the stadium, we opened in 1966.

They named it, requested to the city that it'd be named after Joker Marchant.

>>But Tiger Town is more than just a place for Detroit Tigers spring training or the home of the minor league team, the Flying Tigers.

>>Detroit Tigers Tiger Town is a baseball factory.

365 days a year.

They have so much of baseball located in one area.

It's very unique.

But it works.

And it works well because the Tigers feel at home here.

>>Lakeland for the Detroit Tigers is really the starting point for all of our Major League Baseball players, whether it's through trade or free agency or being drafted out of high school or college.

They're going to spend time in Lakeland.

The road to Detroit starts in Lakeland, Florida.

>>They feel that this is just as much their stadium as we do.

We've grown together over time, and we expect that to continue for years to come.

♪♪ >>In 1927, Lakeland made national headlines.

That's the year when George Haldeman, a local flying instructor, attempted the first Trans-Atlantic flight with a female copilot.

At his side in the controls, Ruth Elder, George's student.

Although both had to ditch their aircraft in the middle of their flight, they both survived.

This is just one of several historical aviation stories with ties to Lakeland.

>>Think about it like a fair like a county fair, but specifically for airplanes.

>>The annual Sun and Fun Airshow brings between 160 to 180,000 people over the course of a week each spring.

It's the second largest flying event in the United States.

>>Fly-in started in 1975.

But it always had an educational component built into it.

So by the end of the eighties, the fly-in had made quite a bit of money and the founders are trying to figure out, so how do we make this a year round educational venue?

And so the Florida Air Museum was created to be that linchpin of what we do year round here, what I call the other 51 weeks of the year.

We're the official aviation museum of the State of Florida, which is really cool.

But in here, you're going to find airplanes that people have built in their homes.

You're going to find unique one of a kind aircraft that some of them don't even fly, like the Wright flier replica.

We have a Curtiss Wright, a 1936 Curtiss Wright Aircraft, which is very unique in that when Glenn Curtiss took over the Wright Aircraft Company back in the twenties, kept the Wright Brothers name.

And so this aircraft is unique in that it was actually a trainer for the Argentinean Air Force and found its way back to Florida.

But it's one of the last aircraft made.

They still have the Wright Aircraft engines logo on it.

We have a unique relationship with the US Navy.

They've donated three aircraft to us on permanent loan so that we have the ability to show them to the world.

One of them is the Sea Dart, which was a prototype aircraft.

The Navy tried to construct a a jet powered seaplane.

There are two left in existence.

One of them is in San Diego, and one of them is right out front of the Florida Air Museum.

We have a vertical riser, again, a prototype aircraft that never really saw service, but it was a unique aircraft.

It's here on campus.

And then everybody's favorite is the F-14 Tomcat.

So we're very fortunate to have an F-14 for folks who remember the original Top Gun movie that was the primary aircraft.

And also in the second Top Gun movie, the airplane that saves the day at the end.

>>Plus, visitors to the museum can see how one airplane model can have dual purposes.

>>So you also have a really cool interactive fuselage section where people can walk through.

And on one side, it's set up like an early airliner would have been set up.

On the other side it's set up like a military aircraft from World War II.

It's sort of a that Harvey Two-Face situation.

Right.

So on one side, it's commercial aviation history.

On the other side, it's military aviation history.

>>There's even a cockpit that you can crawl into.

Let's go!

>>One of the hurricane hunter aircraft that NOAA flies literally into hurricanes to get information, to predict the path of hurricanes and try to keep us safe.

The hurricane hunters are based here at the Lakeland Airport, which is kind of awesome having them here.

We believe in the innovation that home built, pioneering spirit of, you know, I don't know what this is going to turn into, but let me just try to build an airplane to see if it'll fly.

There's a lot of that in here.

We also have a lot of our military history.

Our role really is to help people connect with aviation in a meaningful way.

♪♪ >>When driving along I-4 between Orlando and Lakeland, no doubt you've seen this.

The main building on campus.

>>Florida Poly is a young university that focuses exclusively on undergraduate engineering education.

And it's a little bit different.

Some of the other universities we're small classes with what we call a high touch model.

We offer a project based curriculum which has the traditional classroom components where you learn calculus and all of those other hard subjects and a lot of theory.

But the addition is that you actually have to go into a lab and build things and solve problems and put what you learned in the classroom to practice.

About 15 years ago, when they a discussion came up about creating a new university focused on engineering, the state's three primary sectors were retirees coming in, real estate, it was tourism and agriculture, and all of those are pretty low skill, low wage areas.

And so the state wanted to make their economy a little bit more robust and get high skilled, high wage jobs.

And high tech was the way to do that.

And so that was really the motivation for creating the university.

>>Florida Poly is the only public state university dedicated to STEM education, and its building architecture reflects that.

>>The building was designed by Santiago Calatrava, probably one of the most famous living architects right now.

Of course, Lakeland also has Florida Southern College, which is known for having the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings.

And so I think Calatrava was attracted to come in here and building this campus as a contrast to Florida Southern College.

The louvers at the top of the building move, they're hydraulic and independently controlled.

The building runs north south and the louvers run east west.

And so we have what's called a sun track mode.

So in the morning, in the eastern louvers are down to block the sun and the Western louvers are up that allows the light in to fill up the building.

And then over during the course of the day, as a sun goes overhead, the louvers move and track it.

>>It's also caught the attention of those in the architecture world.

>>The building also has won more than 20 international awards, including in 2016 architects around the world voted it as one of the 16 most breathtaking buildings in the world.

>>The campus was built in an open space, some distance from the downtown of Lakeland, but the decision was purposeful.

>>We were chosen to sit here in the middle of this undeveloped area for a specific reason, which is to provide opportunity to grow and to bring in high tech companies in and around the university.

♪♪ >>One of Lakeland's timeless treasures is this, the Silver Moon Drive-in.

This is Chip Sawyer.

Chip, you are the second generation proprietor of this drive-in, you grew up here.

Tell me, what was it like having a drive-in in your family growing up in Lakeland?

>>I remember from the very early days, my mom and dad would pack me and my sister up and we'd be driving through this very drive thru and my grandfather would be out here with his traffic wand when it was real busy.

Gave us a little wave, but he was out here working.

>>Very cool.

All right.

We're going to head inside.

You're going to show us exactly what is hiding right behind the facade.

Let's go check it out.

All righty, Chip.

And this is the projection booth.

And one thing that's missing that you notice right away is there's no canisters and no more film.

Tell us why.

>>So in 2011, we actually converted to digital.

Two years ago, we converted to laser light source.

So these projections are actually completely self contained and powered by laser light source.

Put off a lot more light than our old ones.

Tell me, how many hours do you think you spent up here working?

>>Quite a few.

I remember walking in here in the early days and seeing the platters and the film, but fortunately before I kind of got it too involved, we were digital.

>>As you just showed us upstairs, how big those projectors are, and they need to be because that signal has to go all the way over here to the screen.

But in the past, this used to be the projection box.

Tell us what is hiding inside here.

>>So back when we had one screen, this was the original projection booth.

And we still have an old carbon arc projector in there.

>>And of course, no movie going experience would be complete without a little popcorn and a nice cold drink.

What does it mean that you're continuing exactly what your family has given back to the central Florida community?

>>Oh, it's an honor and I really love it.

There's not too many days go by that people don't ask me about it or, you know, talk about it or it'll come up in conversation.

I love to discuss the drive-in just because, you know, it is a cool staple for the Lakeland community.

And we really appreciate the community still having us around because there are not many of us left.

So.

>>Do you think there will always be a place for a drive in theater right here in the heart of Florida?

>>I sure hope so.

My goal is to continue working at this place, and as long as they keep coming, we will gladly have people out here.

We really enjoy the business.

>>Chip Sawyer, thank you very much.

>>It's a pleasure.

>>Keep up the good work.

Such a piece of Florida history that's living right here in Lakeland.

♪♪ Lake Morton traces back to the early 1900s, although some of the swans you'll see today have royal lineage.

That's right.

Royal Swans.

>>A lot of the swans originally came when we had Midwest individuals move to Lakeland in the early 1920s.

But by 1930, 1940, the swans had all died, whether natural causes or animals or what have you.

And we had a family that lived in the Lakeland area that were stationed in Europe, in England during World War II.

And Mr. and Mrs. Pickhardt wrote to the Queen herself and asked her to donate a pair of her Royal Swans.

1957 she responded and said, I'll be glad to donate a pair of swans as long as the city of Lakeland pays us to have them crated and shipped from England to Lakeland.

>>The Swans arrived in 1958 and still hold a royal lineage.

Currently there is about 60 of them.

>>Many, many years ago.

The keeper of the swans from England came over and blessed our swan flock.

So even England notarizes and acknowledges the fact that these are royal lineage.

>>Even Lakeland has its own swan keepers.

>>There's two two guys that come down every morning and check them and then we also they'll come back in the afternoon before we go home and check on them.

>>Once a year, they will round up all of the swans, pen them overnight, and then a local vet will do a wellness check on each of them.

>>She'll come out and put her hands on each and every bird just to make sure that they're well and don't need any extra medical attention.

>>If you're visiting the area, you're welcome to interact with the swans.

>>We encourage it.

Come down and feed them.

We've got five gumball machines around the lake.

It takes a quarter, get a handful of feed and feed them.

They're very peaceful.

It's a great, great spot to be.

[SWAN HONKS] You got something to say?

♪♪ >>The rail yard here in Lakeland was once the cornerstone of the city's development.

Yet as technology grew, the need for trains dwindled and the rail yard became vacant.

Today, it's a green space for the community to enjoy.

>>This was actually, once upon a time, the largest rail yard in central Florida.

And they had steam trains came in here and ultimately that's why Publix was founded just down the road, because all the groceries came on the rail.

Well as diesel engine technology came and trucking came, this rail yard ended up becoming shuttered and it was really a blight on the community.

>>The answer was a privately funded park that's open to the public.

It's 168 acres of land, and just a few minutes from downtown Lakeland.

They have several interactive displays, including this one that shows the history of the land, the industries and the people who made the park possible.

>>We're also home to the Florida Children's Museum.

They were gifted a 40,000 square foot building and moved on to the property and are one of our anchor institutions here.

>>The children's museum charges an admission fee, but everything else at the park is free.

As you enter the park, you'll notice public art and not far from it is a play area honoring the old railyard.

>>We have the train playground, and if you notice all the trees that are planted in the planter boxes, all are very linear that look kind of like the train and pay respect to that heritage.

>>You'll also find a paved trail for walking, running or biking.

That's 1.7 miles long and circles the entire park.

And then there's a tram service.

>>This park is one of the larger public parks that you'll see, and we're one of only a few of them in the nation that has a free tram service.

We wanted people to be able to experience and see everything that BSP has to offer.

So we do have a tram service that will drive you to all the major attractions around the park.

>>It's a new park to the area, but one that the Central Florida community enjoys.

>>The response from the public has been tremendous, and I think our visitation numbers show it.

>>Lakeland may get its name from the abundance of lakes, but I hope you learned just as much as I did about the history of this Florida city.

I'm Scott Fais, thanks for joining us for this edition of Florida Road Trip.

I hope you'll join us again next week on our next pit stop.

Until then, safe travels, everyone.

♪♪ >>This program is brought to you in part by the Paul B.

Hunter and Constance D. Hunter Charitable Foundation, a proud partner of WUCF and the Central Florida community.