Winter Haven, Florida: A Name With No Paper Trail

Name origin: Unknown5 sourcesChecked Nov 6, 2026

Detail of a 1959 U.S. Geological Survey map showing downtown Winter Haven in pink on the shore of Lake Howard, with the Atlantic Coast Line tracks running north to south past City Hall and the Post Office, U.S. 17 and a hospital by another lake to the northeast — Downtown Winter Haven on the U.S. Geological Survey's Winter Haven sheet, 1959, between Lake Howard and the railroad. U.S. Geological Survey, Winter Haven sheet (1:24,000), 1959. Public domain.

Winter Haven, Florida, has a name that seems to explain itself, yet none of the early histories of the town say who chose it or why. The record starts with a land company, a railroad station and a nickname from the men who built the line.

A town laid out by Bartow realtors

M. F. Hetherington’s 1928 History of Polk County admits the town’s early days “are somewhat obscured by the mists of the years.” The first settlers he names, the Boyds, Jacksons, Sykes and Eycleshimers, were there by 1883. “Winter Haven was laid out in 1885,” he writes, by Blount & Whitledge, realtors of Bartow, who owned most of the land and had the lots staked and the streets cleared. The city’s own history puts the platting a year earlier, in 1884.

Meanwhile the railroad came through from Bartow Junction, now Lake Alfred, to Bartow, and a station was set up at Winter Haven. Hetherington says the first religious services in the community are said to have been held in the depot’s waiting room. You’ll notice what he doesn’t say: anything at all about the name.

Harris Corners

The only other name in these sources is a nickname. The city says F. A. K. Harris and his wife, Adele, ran the first store, Hovey and Harris, and lived above it. When the railroad came, the construction workers “dubbed the town ‘Harris Corners’ after learning Adele would cook for them.” Hetherington also lists Hovey & Harris as the first store, though he says he couldn’t find Hovey’s first name.

That nickname didn’t last, and the official name has no story attached in any of these sources. The obvious guess is the mild winters, and a 1923 essay by the mayor, A. Summerlin, calls the climate “mild and agreeable,” but nobody in the record says that’s why the name was picked. So if you’ve heard that a particular person named Winter Haven, ask to see the source.

The haven of lakes

What the town did have was water. The state guide that WPA writers produced in 1939 says Winter Haven “lies among extensive citrus groves in a cluster of lakes,” 97 of them within 5 miles (8 km). Look at the 1959 map and you can see downtown pressed right up against Lake Howard, with the railroad running through the middle.

Quick answers

Who named Winter Haven, Florida?

Nobody knows for sure. Hetherington’s 1928 county history and the city’s own history describe how the town was laid out in the mid-1880s, but neither one says who chose the name or why.

Was Winter Haven ever called Harris Corners?

Informally, yes. The city says railroad construction workers called it “Harris Corners” after Adele Harris, who cooked for them and lived above the family store.

When was Winter Haven founded?

It was laid out in the mid-1880s by Blount & Whitledge of Bartow: in 1885, says Hetherington, or 1884, says the city.

A cream-colored three-story building with a green cornice and a street clock on its corner in downtown Winter Haven, beside a taller older building, palm trees, parked cars and a brick-paved roundabout under a blue sky with white clouds — Downtown Winter Haven, 2012. Photo: Ultrahip, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons (cropped).

Getting there

Open Winter Haven in Google Maps

Opens in a new tab. The pin is the center of Winter Haven in the USGS place-name record.

The closest airports, Amtrak stations and intercity bus stops, measured in a straight line from the center of Winter Haven.

Airports

Lakeland Linder International (LAL) 18 mi 28 km
Orlando International (MCO) 38 mi 61 km

Amtrak trains

Winter Haven station (WTH) 1 mi 2 km
Lakeland station (LAK) 13 mi 22 km

Intercity buses

Greyhound Winter Haven Transportation Center under 1 mi 0.6 km
Amtrak Chartered Vehicle Amtrak Connecting Service · Lakeland 13 mi 22 km
FlixBus Lakeland Gow B Fields Park & Ride 15 mi 24 km

Distances are as the crow flies, not by road. We don't list schedules or fares because they change; check with the airline, Amtrak or the bus company before you go. Official data (FAA commercial service airports (2025), FAA airport locations, Amtrak stations and Intercity Bus Atlas) from the FAA and the U.S. Bureau of Transportation Statistics, checked Nov 6, 2026.

Historical Sources & References

M. F. Hetherington, History of Polk County, Florida (1928), p. 135. The first settlers, the town “laid out in 1885” by Blount & Whitledge, the Hovey & Harris store and the railroad station. Part of the University of South Florida’s collection on the Internet Archive.
City of Winter Haven, Fiscal Year 2021-2022 Operating Budgets, p. 49. “The First Settlers”: the 1884 plat and the workers’ nickname, “Harris Corners.”
Federal Writers’ Project, Florida: A Guide to the Southernmost State (1939), pp. 367-368. The citrus groves and the “cluster of lakes,” 97 within a five-mile radius.
A. Summerlin, “Winter Haven,” in Polk’s Lakeland and Polk County Directory (1923), p. 531. The mayor’s essay on the town, which praises its climate but says nothing about the name.
GNIS feature 293425 (U.S. Geological Survey). The federal gazetteer entry for Winter Haven, in Polk County.

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