Lake Alfred is a city in Polk County, Florida, United States. The population was approximately 5,183 in 2013. It is part of the Lakeland - Winter Haven Metropolitan Statistical Area.HistoryThe city was established soon after the South Florida Railroad reached the area in 1883. It had a number of early names, including Fargo, Chubb and Bartow Junction.The settlement was named Fargo by snowbirds escaping the cold of Fargo, North Dakota. They at first named the settlement after their hometown, but the United States Postal Service protested after a series of mix-ups with the town of Largo. The town then became Chubb and later Bartow Junction because it lay at the junction of a railroad leading south into the county seat Bartow.The name Lake Alfred was adopted in 1913 and was taken from the nearest large lake, named for Alfred Parslow, who came to Florida in 1877 and obtained a charter to build the Jacksonville, Tampa and Key West Railroad.In 1917, the State of Florida established the first off-campus center for the University of Florida in Lake Alfred, the Citrus Experiment Station to study ways of improving citrus growing. Today this location is known as the UF/IFAS Citrus Research and Education Center.
