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Bartow ( ) is the county seat of Polk County, Florida. Founded in 1851 as Fort Blount, the city was renamed in honor of Francis S. Bartow the first brigade commander to die in combat during the American Civil War. According to the U.S. Census Bureau 2000 Census, the city had a population of 15,340 and an estimated population of 16,959 in 2009. It is part of the Lakeland−Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated population of 584,383 in 2009. As of 2012, the mayor of Bartow is Leo E. Longworth. Located near the source of the Peace River, Bartow is approximately east of the Tampa Bay Area and southwest of the Greater Orlando area. The city is near the center of "Lightning Alley" and has frequent afternoon thunderstorms in the summer, but typically has sunny and mild winters. Government, mining, and agriculture are the major sectors of the area's economy. The primary roads in the Bartow area are U.S. Route 17, U.S. Route 98 and State Road 60 which provide access to locations throughout Central Florida. The official city nickname is the "City of Oaks and Azaleas", but informally it is often called "the 'Tow". Three districts within the city are on the National Register of Historical Places. Other historic landmarks include the Old Polk County Courthouse built in 1909 and Bartow High School, formerly Summerlin Institute, the oldest high school in the county. The current school within the school, Summerlin Academy, is named in honor of the former school name. Although Bartow has been eclipsed in population, importance and name recognition by other cities in the county, particularly Lakeland and Winter Haven, the city has retained its small city heritage and its distinctive Southern culture. With the annexation of of former phosphate mining land owned by the Clear Springs Land Company, Bartow's population is projected to increase to over 25,000 by 2015 and over 45,000 by 2030. ==History== (詳細は Polk County History )〕 Little is known about these Native Americans who made their home near present day Bartow, but it is likely that they suffered the same fate as pre-Columbian natives elsewhere - death by European diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever.〔 The remnants of these pre-Columbian peoples probably joined Creek Indians who arrived from the north and become the Seminole Indian tribe.〔 The first non-Indian settlement in the area was a colony of Black Seminoles who established Minatti south of Lake Hancock in the late 1810s.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Over the Branch )〕 These "maroons", as they were commonly called, were escaped slaves from Georgia and the Carolinas. The Black Seminoles of Minatti were allies of the Red Stick Creek in Talakchopko, near present day Fort Meade.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Interview with Cantor Brown, PhD )〕 The Seminole leader Osceola had strong ties to Talakchopko, and many of the events leading up to the Second Seminole War were associated with Osceola and the Minatti war chief Harry.〔 By the end of the Second Seminole War in 1842, both Minatti and Talakchopko had been destroyed. The Armed Occupation Act of 1842 facilitated settlement of the Florida peninsula in the 1840s, although the act did prohibit settlement near the Peace River as that was considered Seminole land.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Armed Settlement Act Text )〕 Enforcement of that part of the act was not strictly enforced; however, and settlers eventually moved out of the Tampa Bay area and into the area.〔 As the settlement grew, the residents began to plant citrus trees and build one room school houses and churches.〔 In 1851, Fort Blount was established by Redding Blount just west of current downtown Bartow.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 A look back in time )〕 At some point in the 1850s, Fort Blount became Peace Creek or Peas Creek, a name dating back to the Rio de la Paz of early Spanish maps.〔 About a month after the secession of Florida in 1861, the state established Polk County from the eastern portion of Hillsborough County.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Sheriffs of Polk County )〕 A few months later, the American Civil War began with the Battle of Fort Sumter. Because of the turmoil of secession and the war, the county had no official county seat for its first six years of existence. The state legislature had directed the voters of Polk County to choose a site for the county seat and mandated that the site be named "Reidsville."〔 During the war, the area's major contribution to the Confederacy was supplies of food. The Union army and navy had effective control of the west coast of Florida, and many cattlemen retreated inland and formed the "Cow Cavalry" as a defense against Union troops.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Florida's Role in the Civil War: "Supplier of the Confederacy" )〕〔 One of the wealthiest members of the Cow Cavalry was Jacob Summerlin.〔 Summerlin purchased the Blount property in 1862 and donated a large parcel of land to build a county courthouse, two churches and a school.〔 Later that year, the town which had been known as Fort Blount, Peace Creek, Peas Creek, and briefly Reidsville was permanently renamed Bartow in honor of Francis S. Bartow, the first confederate officer to die during the war.〔 Like much of the south, Bartow recovered slowly from the war as inefficient and often corrupt Reconstruction governments did little to rebuild the fractured infrastructure. The first Polk County Courthouse was built in 1867 and this did solidify the city's position as county seat.〔 Although Florida formally rejoined the union in 1868, Reconstruction did not end in Florida until 1877. The 1880s and 90s were a period of growth for the city of Bartow; from 1880 to 1900, the city would grow from 386 residents to 1,983.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 1900 Census Data )〕〔(【引用サイトリンク】 1880 Census Data )〕 On July 1, 1882 the town was incorporated as a city. In 1885, the Florida Southern Railroad, a north-south route from North Florida to Southwest Florida opened in Bartow. A year later, the Bartow Branch of the South Florida Railroad which connected Tampa and Orlando was completed.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Florida Southern’s Narrow Gauge Years 1879-1896 )〕 The railroads would become a catalyst to the growth of the area; during the Spanish American War, the Bartow rail yards became a crucial part of the supply line headed for troops in Cuba.〔 In 1887, Summerlin Institute, the first brick schoolhouse south of Jacksonville was built.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 History of Bartow High School )〕 By the turn of the century, Bartow had become the most populous city south of Tampa on the Florida peninsula - larger than either Miami or West Palm Beach.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Us Census )〕 As the city grew, a number of industries moved into the Bartow area. In the first few decades of the 1900s, thousands of acres of land around the city were purchased by the phosphate industry and Bartow would become the hub of the largest phosphate industry in the United States.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Polk's Profile )〕 Polk County was the leading citrus county in the United States for much of the 20th century and the city has several large groves. In 1941, the city built an airport northeast of town.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Airport History )〕 The airport was taken over by the federal government during World War II and was the training location for many Army Air Corps pilots during the war.〔 The airport was returned to the city in 1967 and renamed Bartow Municipal Airport.〔 For most of the 20th century, Bartow's growth was modest, especially in comparison to the rest of the county and state. While other cities in Polk County aggressively annexed adjacent land and allowed rapid growth, the government of Bartow generally took a more cautious approach.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 18,000-Acre Development Near Bartow Awaits Approval )〕〔 Another reason why Bartow's growth had been slow was that most of the land surrounding the city was owned by phosphate mining companies making residential growth impractical.〔 Although Bartow had been the largest city in Polk county in 1900, by the 1910 U.S. Census Lakeland had surpassed Bartow in population. Bartow remained the second largest city in the county until sometime in the 1950s when Winter Haven become more populous than Bartow.〔 In the late 1990s as phosphate operations in the area moved southward, and much of the former phosphate land became available for sale.〔〔(【引用サイトリンク】 Florida's Phosphate Deposits )〕 In 1999, Connecticut financier Stanford Phelps purchased the former Clear Springs phosphate lands east and south of city limits and announced plans for the largest development project in Polk County history.〔 After nearly a decade of delays, the plan received final approval in 2009.〔 The Clear Springs Development includes plans for more than 11,000 new homes, of commercial space, three schools, and a golf course.〔 According to the Central Florida Regional Planning Council, Bartow's population is projected to grow to over 25,000 people by 2015.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 18,000 Acre Development near Bartow Awaits Approval )〕 When buildout of the Clear Springs Development is completed by 2030, the population of the city is projected to be over 45,000 residents.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Bartow, Florida」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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