Biohazard Cleanup Near Rainbow Frostproof, FL

Frostproof began in January 1850 as Fort Clinch, a Seminole War-era fort settlement named after Seminole War commander Duncan Lamont Clinch, though the fort was abandoned by June of that same year and permanent settlers did not arrive until the 1880s.

The town's name came from an 1892 post office mix-up: when 'Keystone City' was rejected because Keystone Heights already existed, settler Joseph Washington Carson volunteered to deliver the application, scratched out the chosen name 'Lakemont' on the way, and substituted 'Frostproof' — which was approved.

The name 'Frostproof' was a marketing promise that citrus here would never be ruined by frost — yet ironically, the Great Freeze of the winter of 1894–95 killed most of the citrus in Frostproof just a few years later.

Unhappy residents switched the name back to Lakemont from 1898 to 1906 before 'Frostproof' was restored for good.

Frostproof was incorporated as a town on June 18, 1918, and officially became the City of Frostproof on November 11, 1960; its motto is 'The Friendly City', and it celebrated its centennial in 2018.

The little city sits on the Lake Wales Ridge in southern Polk County, with its historic downtown on Wall Street squeezed between two lakes, Lake Clinch and Lake Reedy.

Frostproof had a population of 2,877 at the 2020 census, with about 1,229 households, making it one of the smallest cities in Polk County.

Citrus still defines the local economy: Frostproof is home to Ben Hill Griffin, Inc. and the Latt Maxcy Corporation, both members of the Florida's Natural growers' cooperative; Ben Hill Griffin Jr., founder of a citrus empire, was a member of the Forbes 400 in 1989.

Frostproof Middle-Senior High School's Bulldogs have won four Florida state football championships — in 1974, 1992, 1999, and 2025 — plus a state softball title in 2006.

Despite its name, Frostproof still sees at least one night of sub-freezing temperatures in about 65% of its winters.