Leesburg, Florida

== History == Leesburg was first settled in 1857 by Evander McIver Lee and Susannah Lee.

The city was incorporated in 1875, and was designated as the county seat of Sumter County for a time.

When Lake County was formed in 1887, Tavares was designated as its seat.

== Sports == === Baseball === From 1922 to 1924, the city's Cooke Field was used by the Philadelphia Phillies for their spring training sessions.

On March 14, 1923, the stadium was used for the site of an exhibition game between the Phillies and the St.

In 1930, it held its first Watermelon Festival, an annual tradition that lasted for nearly 30 years.

In 1936, the city built the Ballpark at Venetian Gardens, which was used by several minor league baseball clubs that played in the Florida State League from 1937 to 1968.

In 1938, during the Great Depression, the Franklin D.

The city won league titles in 1941 and 1946.

The Melon Patch Players is a nonprofit theater group founded in 1951.

The library moved to the Venetian Gardens in 1953 when Leesburg established a library charter, and in 2007, it moved to a 42,000-square-foot (3,900 m2) building.

But gradually watermelon production dwindled and, for the last festival in 1957, watermelons had to be brought to the city from outside the area.

In 1977, 2011, 2016 and 2017, the Leesburg High School boys' basketball team won the FHSAA Class 4A State Championship, with the back to back 16/17 championships happening under...

Lake Square Mall, the city's major shopping mall, opened in 1980.

On March 19, 1982, Ozzy Osbourne's guitarist Randy Rhoads, as well as the band's makeup artist and bus driver, were killed in a plane crash at Flying Baron Estates.

The citrus industry was the principal business in this area for decades, but devastating freezes in December 1983 and February 1985 persuaded growers to move their groves furthe...

In 1997, Leesburg Bikefest started.

=== 2000 census === As of the census of 2000, there were 15,956 people, 6,775 households, and 4,078 families residing in the city.

The library joined the Lake County Library System in 2002.

Since 2007, the city has been the home of the Leesburg Lightning, a wood-bat collegiate summer baseball team in the Florida Collegiate Summer League.

== Demographics == === 2010 and 2020 census === As of the 2020 United States census, there were 27,000 people, 9,142 households, and 5,782 families residing in the city.

In spring 2017, the Holding Company of the Villages planned to acquire 2,600 acres north and south of County Road 470 along the east side of Florida’s Turnpike for future develo...

As of 2020, the population had exactly 27,000 residents.