Lake Wales
Why does Lake Wales have an Olmsted plan?
In 1929 the Olmsted Brothers firm produced a city plan for Lake Wales, commissioned in the same era as the Bok Tower gardens work. Its ideas about parks, street trees, and civic space still shape how downtown is planned today.
The plan is one of the few Olmsted-firm municipal plans in Florida, and modern downtown projects are frequently justified by reference to it.
Our Olmsted page collects what the plan proposed and which parts were actually built.
Reviewed 2026-08-07 · Lake Wales Guide