History
The original Lakeland Station was built by the South Florida Railroad as far back as between 1884 and 1886. The station opened in 1886 as a two-story wooden structure that was burned down in 1901 and rebuilt shortly afterwards. Unfortunately, the 1902 replacement proved to be inadequate for contemporary railroad needs, and was torn down and replaced in 1910 by the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad with a one-story brick building. This too would be hit by a fire in February 1918 that caused $25,000 worth of damage, but not enough to destroy the building as the 1901 fire did. The building was given a second story and reopened on January 31, 1919.
The current Lakeland Station was originally built in 1998 as a replacement for the 1960-built station about a mile west of the current station, which became a Seaboard Coast Line station when the Atlantic Coast Line and Seaboard Air Line merged July 1, 1967. Though the passenger platforms and covers remain at the former station site, the former SCL station was demolished in 2008.
Read more about this topic: Lakeland (Amtrak Station)
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