Lake Placid, FL

Lake Placid, FL is a town in Highland County in the south central Florida.  The population is 2223 with a median income of $21,178 and a median age of 34.  The town has two nicknames:  the "Town of Murals" and the "Caladium Capital of the World".  Lake Placid was originally called Lake Sterns and was chartered on Dec. 1 1925 by Dr. Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System and founder of the Lake Placid Club, a social and recreation club.  The club was started in Lake Placid, NY.  Dr. Dewey opened a southern branch in Lake Sterns then made a proposal to the Lake Sterns officials in April 1927 to change the name of the town to Lake Placid.  In June 1927 the name of the town was changed to Lake Placid.  There are 27 lakes around Lake Placid along with Toby's Clown school, that was founded by Toby the clown (Keith Stokes)and was started in 1991.  The Lake Placid Tower was built in 1961 and at 270 ft tall it was the tallest concrete block tower in the world at that time.  It has had several names since it opened from Placid Tower to Tower of Peace, the Happiness Tower to it currant's name The Lake Placid Tower.  The tower is not opened right now but when it was the view from the top was beautiful and you could see all the lakes and caladium bulb fields.  98% of the caladium bulbs in the world come from Lake Placid.  There is even a store devoted to just the Caladium bulbs.  There are over 42 murals that are painted throughout the town.  The murals depict the towns history and are a major tourist attraction for the town.  For added fun, there are hidden objects painted in the mural too.  Lake Placid is a nice town and I was surprised of what the town had to offer.  I knew nothing about the town until I visited it but it is a great town and the people are very friendly.  We had lunch at one of the local restaurants, Schooni's.  The sign in front of the restaurant says "Schooni's its a tradition!"  I am not sure why it is a tradition but I do know there food was good and very reasonable.  I like eating at restaurants where the locals eat.  It gives you an idea of what the town is all about.  We also visited the Historic Museum.  The museum is housed in the old train depot with a lot of artifacts from current and former residents of the town that helps depict the town's history.  There is even a dress that Jackie Kennedy wore at a White House function in 1961.  You may wonder why that dress is in a Lake Placed museum?  Well the story is that after she wore the dress she sent it to the cleaners.  When she received the dress back she noticed that the silver embroidery on the dress was tarnished.  The cleaners had to pay for the damages to  the dress ($700) and then kept the dress.  The cleaner had family in Lake Placid and where he heard about the museum opening he thought it would be a nice piece to put in the museum and that is how the dress came to Lake Placid.  Lake Placid is a great town to visit and have fun for a day or a week end.