Question: How is Lake Placid, Florida, connected to the Dewey Decimal System?
Answer: Melvil Dewey, creator of the Dewey Decimal System, helped give the Florida town its name. Dewey had founded the Lake Placid Club in New York and traveled to Florida in 1926 to establish a warm-weather branch in the community then called Lake Stearns. He persuaded local leaders to rename it Lake Placid, and the Florida Legislature officially rechartered the town under its new name in 1927.
Dewey developed a hotel and resort complex called the Lake Placid Loj, using his preferred simplified spelling of “lodge.” He remained closely tied to the community and died there in 1931. The connection between the two Lake Placids continued, and the Florida and New York communities officially became sister cities in 2011.
