European-American settlers arrived in Lakeland from Missouri, Kentucky, Tennessee, Georgia and South Carolina in the 1870s.

[9] In the 18th century Native Americans groups, collectively called "Seminoles", moved into the areas left vacant.

[10] Starting in 1832, the United States government tried to move the Seminoles in Florida west to the Indian Territory.

[15] The Florida boom resulted in the construction of many significant structures in Lakeland, a number of which are now listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

This list includes the Terrace Hotel, New Florida Hotel (Regency Tower, currently Lake Mirror Tower), Polk Theatre, Frances Langford Promenade, Polk Museum of Art (not a product of the 1920s boom), Park Trammell Building (formerly the Lakeland Public Library and today the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce), and others.

"[17] Wright worked on the project for over 20 years as Spivey found ways to fund it and find construction workers during World War II.

"[20] It is the largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world, and attracts 30,000 visitors each year.

At the beginning of World War II, the Lakeland School of Aeronautics—headquartered at the recently built Lakeland Municipal Airport—became part of a nationwide network of civilian flight schools enjoined for the war effort by the United States Army Air Corps.

Lakeland is within the Central Florida Highlands area of the Atlantic coastal plain, with a terrain consisting of flatland interspersed with gently rolling hills.

[27] Lakeland, like most other parts of Florida north of Lake Okeechobee, is in the humid subtropical zone (Köppen climate classification: Cfa).

Typically, summers are hot and humid with high temperatures seldom dropping below 90 °F and 70 °F for the overnight low.

Although citrus is no longer the largest industry in the area, it still plays a large part in the economy of Lakeland and Polk County.

[43] Publix is one of the largest regional grocery chains in the United States with over 1,200 stores across the American South.

The Lakeland History Room maintains the City's collection of historical materials as well as other locally relevant collections composed of documents, photographs, maps, building plans, audio/visual media, scrapbooks, specialty items like citrus crate labels, artwork, yearbooks, posters, and postcards.

[46] The LHR maintains a large digital collection with over 7,000 images of the city of Lakeland, its landmarks, significant historical moments, cultural institutions, and prominent citizens.

[46] The LHR provides one-on-one assistance with historic research, a history lecture series with prominent local historians, a DIY Digitizing Lab for personal material preservation, and genealogical programs and resources.

In the 1980s, the Lakeland Center briefly played host to the indoor version of the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team.

[56] The Lakeland Center also hosts the Florida High School Athletic Association's state basketball finals.

The mayor is one of seven members of the City Commission, acting as the board chair and performing mostly ceremonial and procedural duties beyond the powers of the other six.

On September 28, 2006, Polk County Sheriff's Deputy Vernon "Matt" Williams and his K-9 partner Diogi were shot and killed after a routine traffic stop in the Wabash area of Lakeland.

More than 500 police officers from a variety of law enforcement agencies joined in a search for Angilo Freeland, suspected of murdering Williams and stealing his gun.

Nine officers from five different law enforcement agencies surrounded Freeland and shot him when he raised Williams' stolen gun at them.

Florida Southern is the home of the world's largest single-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright architecture.

Florida Polytechnic (FLPoly) is just inside the Lakeland's northeast border at the intersection of I-4 and Polk Parkway.

[71] Webster University offers on-site, regionally accredited graduate degree programs in business and counseling at their Lakeland Metropolitan Campus[72] Polk County is within the Tampa Bay television market.

Local radio stations include: WLLD 94.1 FM is licensed to Lakeland, but has wider focus on the Tampa Bay area, with studios in St. Petersburg.

WKES 91.1 FM is also licensed to Lakeland as part of the statewide Moody Radio Florida network, with studios in Seminole, near St. Petersburg.

Over a decade later in 1904, citizens purchased the private light power plant for $7,500 establishing the locally owned, municipal utility known today as Lakeland Electric.

[130] The Lakeland Civic Center was also the filming location for the music video of Little Red Corvette by pop musician Prince.

[131] In 2020, the Southgate Shopping Center was featured as the exterior of the “Big Top Mall” in the movie The One and Only Ivan, with other scenes located at the Silver Moon Drive-In and Dobbins Park.