Secretary Byrd Announces Polk County as Florida’s Newest Certified Local Government

TALLAHASSEE, FLA. –

Florida Secretary of State Cord Byrd announced today that Polk County has been accepted into the Certified Local Government (CLG) program following certification by the National Park Service.

“I am pleased to welcome Polk County as Florida’s 86th Certified Local Government,” said Secretary of State Cord Byrd. “The county will now partner with the Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources to preserve resources associated with the rich history of Central Florida.”

Polk County joins a network of more than 2,000 CLGs in the United States. The CLG program encourages decision making about historic preservation at the local level, with input from citizens and local government. In order to become eligible for the program, Polk County passed a local historic preservation ordinance and assembled a qualified historic preservation commission. As a CLG, the county will now benefit from training and technical support provided by the Division of Historical Resources to enhance local historic preservation efforts to protect its unique historic and cultural resources.

Old Polk County Courthouse, 2020. Credit: Myrtice Young

Although created by an act of the Legislature in 1861, Polk County’s archaeological record documents that its human history spans over 12,000 years. The Seminole Wars played a role in bringing the earliest American settlers to the area, and by the mid-1800s they established homesteads at Socrum, Fort Fraser, and Fort Meade. Early settlers lived along rivers and streams, and adjacent to vast lowland scrub where they grazed cattle and planted crops. The Florida land boom of the 1900s ushered in an era of growth and development that reflected the nationwide City Beautiful architectural movement. By the 1930s, Polk County had established itself as the leading citrus producer in Florida and was dubbed the “Citrus Center.”  Polk County’s CLG certification solidifies its vision to protect and promote its important historical, cultural, and archaeological resources.

Polk County is actively committed to maintaining its historic resources for future generations. To safeguard the historic character of the Old Polk County Courthouse located in Bartow, the Polk County Board of County Commissioners started a project in 2024 to restore over 200 exterior windows. Constructed in 1908, with additions in 1926, the neoclassical style building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1989. The goal of the project is to preserve the original distinctive materials, features, finishes, and construction techniques of each window. The restoration project is scheduled to be completed by summer 2025. Funded by a grant from the Division of Historical Resources, the project will preserve and restore a significant character defining feature of the building, sustaining the beauty and historical significance of the former courthouse. The building remains an important community focal point, adaptively reused as the Polk County History Center & Genealogical Library. As a CLG community, Polk County will be able to further its historic preservation programs and promote economic development that reflects its unique character.

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About the Certified Local Government Program
The Certified Local Government (CLG) program was established in 1980 by the National Park Service and is administered in Florida by the Florida Department of State’s Division of Historical Resources. The CLG Program links three levels of government—federal, state and local—into a preservation partnership for the identification, evaluation, and protection of historic and archaeological resources. Florida’s CLGs (towns, cities, and counties) receive expert technical historic preservation assistance to guide them in the preservation efforts from the National Park Service, the Division of Historical Resources, and from Florida’s other CLGs. This designation also gives CLGs access to historic preservation grant assistance available solely to CLGs. In order to become a CLG, local governments must be committed to enforcing local and state historic preservation laws and ensure the establishment of a professionally qualified historic preservation board. Nationally, more than 2,000 local governments participate in the CLG program. In Florida, 86 local governments have been designated as CLG. For more information, please visit: https://dos.fl.gov/historical/preservation/certified-local-governments/.

About the Florida Department of State’s Bureau of Historic Preservation

The Bureau of Historic Preservation (BHP) conducts historic preservation programs aimed at identifying, evaluating, preserving and interpreting the historic and cultural resources of the state. The Bureau manages the Florida Main Street Program, and under federal and state laws, oversees the National Register of Historic Places program for Florida, maintains an inventory of the state's historical resources in the Florida Master Site File, assists applicants in federal tax benefit and local government ad valorem tax relief programs for historic buildings, and reviews the impact that development projects may have on significant historic resources. For more information, visit https://dos.fl.gov/historical/preservation/.