Lake Placid is a town in Highlands County, Florida, United States. The U.S. Census Bureau estimated the town's population as 1,878 on 1 July 2007.[3] It is part of the Sebring Micropolitan Statistical Area, which had a 2006 estimated population of 99,349.[6]
The town has two nicknames—"Town of Murals" and "The Caladium Capital of the World." Lake Placid has more than 40 murals painted on buildings throughout the town,and 98 percent of the world's caladium bulbs come from Lake Placid.
Lake Placid was formerly called Lake Stearns, chartered on December 1, 1925. Dr. Melvil Dewey, the inventor of the Dewey Decimal System, and the founder of the Lake Placid Club, proposed that Lake Stearns change its name to Lake Placid. On April 29, 1927 the Lake Stearns Commissioners accepted Dr. Dewey's proposal to change the town's name from Lake Stearns to Lake Placid. Subsequently, they submitted a request to the Florida State Legislature. On June 6, 1927 the Town of Lake Stearns was chartered as Lake Placid.