Lakeland, Florida was incorporated January 1, 1885. The town was founded by Abraham Munn, who purchased 80 acres of land in what is now downtown Lakeland in 1882 and platted the land for the town in 1884. Munn was a resident of Louisville, Kentucky. Among the names considered (and rejected) for the town by its residents were Munnville, Red Bug and Rome City.

The Florida boom resulted in the construction of many significant structures in Lakeland, a number of which are today listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This list includes the Terrace Hotel, New Florida Hotel (Regency Towers), Polk Theatre, Park Trammell Building (formerly the Lakeland Public Library and today the Lakeland Chamber of Commerce), and others. This was Lakeland's golden age. The Cleveland Indians held spring training here from 1923 to 1927.

The "boom" period went "bust" quickly, and years passed before the city recovered. Part of the re-emergence was due to the arrival of the Detroit Tigers in 1934 for spring training. (The team continues to train here.) The development of the Lakeland Municipal Airport as a major facility in central Florida transportation was another factor. The 1930’s also featured the arrival of renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright. In 1938 he came to Lakeland at the request of Florida Southern College President Ludd Spivey to design a "great education temple in Florida." For 20 years Wright worked on his "true American campus" creation. He planned 18 structures, 12 of which were completed and six left on the drawing board. He called his project "A Child of the Sun," so named from the architect’s own description of being "out of the ground, into the light, a child of the sun." It is the largest on-site collection of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings in the world.

Lakeland made national headlines on September 28th, 2006 when Polk County Sheriff's Deputy Vernon "Matt" Williams and his K-9 partner Diogi were shot and killed after a routine traffic stop in the Kathleen area of the town. The incident sparked outrage among the central Florida law enforcement community whose ranks of more than five-hundred came together in search of Angilo Freeland the suspect wanted in connection with the murder. Freeland was found the next morning hiding under a tree. He was shot 68 times, and died on the scene. Deputy Williams and Diogi were laid to rest on October 3rd, 2006 after a funeral that included a procession that caused traffic in the City of Lakeland to come to a complete stop for several hours.