Bartow, Florida

Bartow is a city located in the U.S. State of Florida located in Central Florida east of the Tampa Bay area. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 15,340. It is the county seat of Polk County{{GR|6}}.

History

In the early 19th Century, very few people lived in Florida, especially the area south of Gainesville. The relentless heat and humidity, venomous snakes, and uncharted swampland made a comfortable life in southern Florida an uncertainty. A bigger threat to any would-be settlers was the Seminoles, a Native American tribe native to Florida. While a few of the Seminole had left for Oklahoma, some decided to stay in Florida and make life rough for any new settlers who tried to make a living. After the Second Seminole War ended in 1842, southern Florida seemed ripe for settlement. Still, many felt uneasy about the continued Seminole presence in the Everglades and stories were always told about hostile encounters "not far away". So most of the early settlements in peninsular Florida were set up as forts, to discourage any Seminole attacks - just in case. In 1850, the first permanent new settlers came to the area near the headwaters of the Peas River or Peace River and established Fort Blount. This settlement was somewhat stalled by the American Civil War a decade later, although the Polk County government was established in 1861. After the war, in 1867, the county commissioners decided the county seat should be named after General Francis Bartow, the first Confederate officer to die in the war, and so, the name of Fort Blount was changed to Bartow.

Related Topics:
19th Century - Gainesville - Snakes - Swampland - Seminoles - Native American - Florida - Oklahoma - Second Seminole War - 1842 - Everglades - Peninsular - Headwaters - Peace River - American Civil War - Polk County - 1867

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