Ruskin, Florida
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Ruskin is an unincorporated
census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...
in
Hillsborough County, Florida Hillsborough County is located in the west-central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. In the 2020 census, the population was 1,459,762, making it the fourth-most populous county in Florida and the most populous county outside the Miami metro ...
, United States. The area was part of the chiefdom of the Uzita at the time of the
Hernando de Soto Hernando de Soto (; ; 1497 – 21 May 1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who was involved in expeditions in Nicaragua and the Yucatan Peninsula. He played an important role in Francisco Pizarro's conquest of the Inca Empire in Peru, ...
expedition in 1539. The community was founded August 7, 1908, on the shores of the Little Manatee River. It was developed by Dr. George McAnelly Miller, an attorney and professor at
Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is a higher education institution and part of the University of West London, in Oxford, England. It is not a Colleges of the University of Oxford, college of Oxford University. Named ...
in
Trenton, Missouri Trenton is a city in Grundy County, Missouri, Grundy County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,609 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Grundy County. The city used to be the world's largest producer ...
, and Addie Dickman Miller. It is named after the essayist and social critic
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...
. Miller established the short-lived Ruskin College. It was one of the Ruskin Colleges.


History

The town and college were named after the English writer and social reformist
John Ruskin John Ruskin (8 February 1819 20 January 1900) was an English polymath a writer, lecturer, art historian, art critic, draughtsman and philanthropist of the Victorian era. He wrote on subjects as varied as art, architecture, Critique of politic ...
. Ruskin, a
utopian A utopia ( ) typically describes an imagined community or society that possesses highly desirable or near-perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book ''Utopia'', which describes a fictional island soci ...
, founded the Guild of St George, a celebration of workmanship that underpinned the
Arts and Crafts movement The Arts and Crafts movement was an international trend in the decorative and fine arts that developed earliest and most fully in the British Isles and subsequently spread across the British Empire and to the rest of Europe and America. Initiat ...
of
William Morris William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was an English textile designer, poet, artist, writer, and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts movement. He was a major contributor to the revival of traditiona ...
. Ruskin was a passionate educator. In 1907, Dr. George McAnelly Miller, a former
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
prosecuting attorney and professor, and former president of Ruskin College in
Trenton, Missouri Trenton is a city in Grundy County, Missouri, Grundy County, Missouri, United States. The population was 5,609 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the county seat of Grundy County. The city used to be the world's largest producer ...
, relocated his family to the area, along with his brother-in-law Albert Peter Dickman's family. They purchased land and started to set up homes, a sawmill, and a school. Addie Dickman Miller, Dr. Miller's wife, founded a post office on August 7, 1908. This day is recognized as the official founding day of the town. The Ruskin Commongood Society platted Ruskin on February 19, 1910, and filed the plat on March 9, 1910, in the Hillsborough County Court House, with lots for the college, the business district, two parks, and for the founding families, with only white people allowed to own or lease land in the community. Albert Dickman's house, finished in 1910, on the banks of the Little Manatee River, is one of the few structures left standing from the founding of Ruskin. The Millers began a new Ruskin College in 1910, with Dr. Miller serving as president and Adeline Miller serving as Vice President. Continuing with the college's former practices, students worked a portion of each day as part of their education and as a way to pay for tuition and board. It offered three years of preparatory classes, after which students could attend the college, taking classes in art, drama, language, literature, music, shorthand, social sciences, and speech. At the peak of the college's prosperity it had 160 students. By 1913, the community had a cooperative general store, a canning factory, a telephone system, an electric plant supplying electricity to both public and private buildings, a weekly paper, and regular boat freight and passenger service to Tampa. With the onset of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
, most students went to the war in Europe and the college closed its doors. In 1918, a fire destroyed the college, sparing only the Millers' house. Dr. Miller died in August 1919. At this time U.S. Route 41 was only a shell road paid for by a $30,000 local bond issue (). Because of the growing importance of truck farming, these roads and others were built to facilitate the transportation of produce to local markets throughout the 1920s. The railroad track connected Ruskin to the
Seaboard Air Line Railroad The Seaboard Air Line Railroad , known colloquially as the Seaboard Railroad during its time, was an American railroad that existed from April 14, 1900, until July 1, 1967, when it merged with the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad, its longtime ri ...
line in 1913. On the eve of the college's demise in 1918, Ruskin had a population of 200 Ruskinites, as they are called. The majority of people appeared to have been truck growers. These residents supported a sawmill, a
turpentine Turpentine (which is also called spirit of turpentine, oil of turpentine, terebenthine, terebenthene, terebinthine and, colloquially, turps) is a fluid obtainable by the distillation of resin harvested from living trees, mainly pines. Principall ...
still, a syrup factory, a
blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
, a newspaper, a lawyer, two carpenters, and three general stores. Rachel W. Billings served as postmaster and as the Universalist minister. With this foundation, it is not surprising that even with the destruction of the college the colony survived. In 1925, Ruskin's population remained at 200. It had six hotels, two sawmills, one turpentine still, a public library, the Ruskin Telephone Company, four groceries, one garage, a well driller, two restaurants, a dry goods dealer, a carpenter, and a number of fruit and truck growers. Some of the fields had been cultivated, and tomatoes, cabbages, onions and other crops were being raised. There was a nursery established for ornamentals. Thousands of palms were ready for market, and streets were being graded in certain portions of the town that lay off the highway. The community's social life included four or five clubs organized by women, ranging from the Woman's Twentieth Century Club to the League of Women Voters. A new school was erected, as well as a church. With the road developments auto service was provided to Brandon,
Tampa Tampa ( ) is a city on the Gulf Coast of the United States, Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. Tampa's borders include the north shore of Tampa Bay and the east shore of Old Tampa Bay. Tampa is the largest city in the Tampa Bay area and t ...
, and Wimauma. In 1930 Ruskin's population had reached 709, consisting of 395 males and 314 females. Despite the deed restrictions against African Americans owning or leasing property, 140 black people resided in Ruskin. The rest of the population was white, of whom 514 were native and 52 were foreign-born. Three companies operated in Ruskin in 1935 despite the Depression and a drop to 600 residents: Florida Power & Light Company; Ruskin Telephone, Electric Light and Power Company, Inc.; and Ruskin Trailer Company. Because of its agricultural roots, the town weathered the Depression. The soil of Ruskin farms is especially adapted to growing tomatoes. There is a large area of muck land underlaid with
marl Marl is an earthy material rich in carbonate minerals, Clay minerals, clays, and silt. When Lithification, hardened into rock, this becomes marlstone. It is formed in marine or freshwater environments, often through the activities of algae. M ...
in this region. The marl base allows
irrigation Irrigation (also referred to as watering of plants) is the practice of applying controlled amounts of water to land to help grow crops, landscape plants, and lawns. Irrigation has been a key aspect of agriculture for over 5,000 years and has bee ...
of crops without loss of fertilizer, as the marl prevents the fertilizer from washing too deep into the soil. Ruskin is favored with numerous
artesian well An artesian well is a well that brings groundwater to the surface without pumping because it is under pressure within a body of rock or sediment known as an aquifer. When trapped water in an aquifer is surrounded by layers of Permeability (ea ...
s. Due to the rapid growth of tomato culture and a cooperative arrangement among Ruskin farmers, the town was again a thriving community. It had a canning plant which employed 65 workers, a community hall, and a modern schoolhouse. As part of an attempt to attract visitors to Ruskin and to celebrate the area's agricultural richness, the community instituted the annual springtime Ruskin Tomato Festival in 1935 where vegetables were displayed and the community's most popular woman was voted as queen. The festival still takes place every year in May. With many Ruskin residents working in Tampa during World War II, people from Tampa began hearing of the benefits of the rural community. Shortly after the war, Ruskin slowly became more and more suburban as people not related to the agricultural business moved into the community. In 1960, Ruskin was still very rural. Agriculture dominated Ruskin throughout the 1970s, but its influence began to wane. The greater Ruskin area's population reached 17,000 by 1975, many of whom were not farmers, but suburbanites. By 1982, Ruskin produced approximately of tomatoes a year, and one of the world's largest tomato-packing houses operated in nearby Apollo Beach. However, flower farms, phosphate, real estate, and tropical fish farms also became important economic engines for Ruskin that began encroaching upon farmland. Despite this, farmers grew approximately $15 million worth of produce yearly in the late 1980s. Poor crop yields in the mid- to late 1980s drove some farmers to the wall. Many borrowed money, sometimes as much as $500,000, against their land to plant their crops. Consequently, many farmers were forced out of business, and others chose to leave farming forever. Due to the impact of the
North American Free Trade Agreement The North American Free Trade Agreement (, TLCAN; , ALÉNA), referred to colloquially in the Anglosphere as NAFTA, ( ) was an agreement signed by Canada, Mexico, and the United States that created a trilateral trade bloc in North America. The ...
in the 1990s which allowed Mexican tomatoes to flood the U.S. market and with ever-increasing water restrictions, tomato acreage continued to decline. Less than half the number of acres planted with tomatoes in the early 1990s were planted in 1997. The housing boom of the first decade of the 21st century turned most of the tomato and orange plantations into new housing development, bringing thousands of new inhabitants to the area. The South County Coalition for Community Concerns (SCCCC) established in 1984 was a Ruskin-based Coalition comprising public and private health and human service organizations, government agencies, schools, churches and concerned citizens from South County. The history of the SCCCC (1980-2002) outlines, programs, celebrations and mutual support to bring a better quality of life to people of rural south Hillsborough County. By 1990, changes to the downtown had occurred. The end of the traditional Ruskin Days parade (due to rising costs) and a great fire that wiped out the popular Thriftway supermarket and adjacent furniture, hardware and MC Topps department stores changed the landscape of the town center. At present, Ruskin continues to grow with new commerce and housing developments. U.S. Route 41 is now a four-lane road connecting Ruskin to Tampa, as does Interstate 75, which has an exit at Ruskin. It had a very active
chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to a ...
until 2011 when it merged with the Apollo Beach Chamber to become the South Shore Chamber of Commerce and moved from Ruskin to Apollo Beach. Ruskin is the seat of the South Hillsborough County Government Center and has a branch of the Hillsborough County Public Library System. In 2009, the Dickman family donated the land where the new Ruskin Campus of Hillsborough Community College was erected, across the street from Earl J. Lennard High School.


Geography

Ruskin is located in south-central Hillsborough County, on the north side of the Little Manatee River. It is bordered to the north by Apollo Beach and to the east by Sun City Center. U.S. Route 41 passes through the center of town, leading north to Gibsonton and southwest to
Bradenton Bradenton ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Manatee County, Florida, United States. As of the 2020 census, the city's population is 55,698, up from 49,546 at the 2010 census. It is a principal city in the Sarasota metropolitan area. Dow ...
.
Interstate 75 Interstate 75 (I-75) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. As with most Interstates that end in 5, it is a major cross-country, north–south route, traveling from S ...
runs along the eastern edge of Ruskin, with access from Exit 240 ( State Road 674/College Avenue). I-75 leads north to Brandon and south to Sarasota. Downtown Tampa is to the north via I-75 and the Selmon Expressway. According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the Ruskin CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 7.80%, are water.


Demographics

As of the 2010 US Census, there were 17,208 people living in the community. The racial makeup of the community was 71.71%
White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 9.12% Black or African American, 0.33% Native American, 1.33% Asian, 0.06%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 15.28% from other races, and 2.17% from two or more races.
Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or Latino of any race were 42.87% of the population. There were 2,963 households, 29.8% of which had children under the age of 18 present, 53.6% were married couples living together, 10.5% had a female householder with no spouse present, and 30.0% were non-familial/roommate arrangements; single individuals comprised 23.9% of households, and 11.6% were single senior citizens (aged 65 or older). The average household size was 2.79 individuals; the average family size was 3.28 members. Within the community, the population was spread out; 26.5% were under the age of 18, 9.6% were from 18-24, 26.8% from 25-44, 21.1% from 45-64, and 16.1% were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 104.1 males. For every 100 females above age 18, there were 102.9 males. The
median income The median income is the income amount that divides a population into two groups, half having an income above that amount, and half having an income below that amount. It may differ from the mean (or average) income. Both of these are ways of unde ...
for a household in the community was $28,228, and the median income for a family was $32,404. Males had a median income of $25,787 versus $20,817 for females. The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the community was $12,943. About 10.6% of families and 17.1% of the population were below the
poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 20.9% of those under age 18 and 11.7% of those age 65 or over. Recognizing the needs of Latino families, especially those of migrant farm workers, th
Redlands Christian Migrant Association
provides childcare services, community outreach, and
adult An adult is an animal that has reached full growth. The biological definition of the word means an animal reaching sexual maturity and thus capable of reproduction. In the human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social an ...
and
continuing education Continuing education is the education undertaken after initial education for either personal or professional reasons. The term is used mainly in the United States and Canada. Recognized forms of post-secondary learning activities within the d ...
opportunities, as well as assisting in th
Migrant Head Start
program.


Economy


Amazon

Governor
Rick Scott Richard Lynn Scott ( Myers; born December 1, 1952) is an American attorney, businessman, politician, and United States Navy, Navy veteran serving as the Seniority in the United States Senate, senior United States senator from the state of F ...
and
Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...
announced, in 2013, that Amazon would create 3,000 new jobs in Florida. At more than one million square feet, the Amazon warehouse is nearly ten times the size of the average
Home Depot The Home Depot, Inc., often referred to as Home Depot, is an American multinational corporation, multinational home improvement retail corporation that sells tools, construction products, appliances, and services, including fuel and transportat ...
store. The first item, a character doll of Anna (from the animated film '' Frozen''), arrived at the warehouse on September 18, 2014. In 2014, Amazon spent $46 million on Kiva robots for the Ruskin facility. In 2016, Amazon announced it would add an on-site training center for employees to enroll in college courses.


Arts and culture


The Big Draw

The annual BIG DRAW-Ruskin began in 2008 to mark the 100th anniversary of Ruskin as a community whose founders were influenced by the writings and philosophy of John Ruskin. It is inspired by and linked to the international Campaign for Drawing first initiated in Great Britain to honor John Ruskin. THE BIG DRAW-Ruskin celebrated the vision of Ruskin who believed in drawing as a tool for understanding and knowledge and promoted the importance of the arts in education and community life. The 2008 Ruskin Community Mural was drawn by artist Michael Parker and The Amazing Community Mural Team. Parker with assistant Dave Bush recruited a community group of Ruskin teens and adults. The intergenerational group engaged in an intense collaboration of research, photography, and discussion of possible ideas. The final design concept was based on John Ruskin's social ideal that human happiness requires the mix of the head, heart and hand. Mural imagery includes references to historic Ruskin, the agricultural and environmentally sensitive setting across the bay from urban centers, development and movement to future possibility. Maynard Clark donated the mural site. The 2009 Community Mural-in-the-Round Project was coordinated by Josette Urso and the mural was painted on the Mary & Martha House building. Both the 2008 and 2009 projects were commissioned by the SouthShore Arts Council and funded by grants from the John Crawford Fund of the Community Foundation of Greater Sun City Center.


Points of interest

There are several locations in and near Ruskin some of which have been included in the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
. * A. P. Dickman House * Cockroach Bay Aquatic Preserve * Cockroach Key * Firehouse Cultural Center * Fountain of Youth * Little Manatee River State Park *Trooper Kenneth E. Flynt Hwy. Highway 41 in Hillsborough County from Big Bend Rd (CR 672) to Little Manatee River designated by the Florida Senate in Memory of Trooper Flynt killed in the line of duty. * Leisey Shell Pits located in Ruskin by the Little Manatee River, is perhaps the world's largest ice-age fossil deposit, yielding tens of thousands of bones and several hundred species of Ice Age mammals. * George McA. Miller House


Government

The area is a part of unincorporated Hillsborough County. It is administered by th
Board of County Commissioners.
Ruskin is the location of th
SouthShore Regional Service Center
for Hillsborough County.. Th
SouthShore Community Resource Center
administered by the County, provides social services in Ruskin. There are two branches of the Tampa–Hillsborough County Public Library System in Ruskin: the SouthShore Regional Library and the Ruskin Library. Residents may use any library in the system. Library cards are free to residents. Ruskin is also home for the
National Weather Service The National Weather Service (NWS) is an Government agency, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government that is tasked with providing weather forecasts, warnings of hazardous weather, and other weathe ...
(NWS) Forecast Office labeled "Tampa Bay Area - Ruskin". This forecast office is responsible for the area from Levy County in the north to Lee County in the south and extending in as far inland as Sumter, Polk, Hardee, DeSoto, and Highlands Counties. It also is responsible for weather forecasts and severe storm warnings for the western Florida coastal waters from Cedar Key to Bonita Beach and out which includes Tampa Bay and Charlotte Harbor. There is an
NEXRAD NEXRAD or Nexrad (Next-Generation Radar) is a network of 159 high-resolution S-band pulse-Doppler radar, Doppler weather radars operated by the National Weather Service (NWS), an agency of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) ...
weather radar site featuring dual polarization doppler radar and aviation terminal forecasts are also done at this office.


Education

In 2014, the J. Vince Thompson Elementary School opened in Ruskin. It is the first
LEED Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a Green building certification systems, green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating ...
-designated school in Hillsborough County. The campus adjoins Lennard High School and Hillsborough Community College SouthShore campus. The Hillsborough Community College SouthShore campus is located in Ruskin. It is LEED-certified Gold. It includes the Lennard Collegiate Academy. On October 30, 2014, Gannon University, based from
Erie, Pennsylvania Erie is a city on the south shore of Lake Erie and the county seat of Erie County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, fifth-most populous city in Pennsylvania and the most populous in Northwestern Pen ...
, announced that it would offer graduate health professional programs at a new campus in Ruskin. The site was chosen to meet increased demand for high-quality graduate education in disciplines that served the rapidly expanding health care sector of the Florida economy.


Media


WPHX—101.9 FM The Phoenix

The Phoenix is the Ruskin community radio station, WPHX 101.9 FM, transmitting from the Firehouse Cultural Center in Ruskin, which began broadcasting on August 17, 2015.


''Observer News''

In 1963, Evan Mixon purchased a weekly shopper and began a Ruskin family business that grew to include ''The Observer News'' (which had begun in 1958) and combined the two papers into ''The Shopper & Observer.'' ''The Observer News'', a weekly newspaper reports news of Ruskin and wider South Hillsborough County has been a locally owned source of community information for many years.


Notable people

* Clarence Anglin, bank robber, escaped from Alcatraz in 1962. Born in Donalsonville, Georgia, lived in Ruskin as part of a migrant working family. * John Anglin, bank robber, escaped from Alcatraz in 1962. Born in Donalsonville, Georgia, lived in Ruskin as part of a migrant working family. *
Aaron Carter Aaron Charles Carter (December 7, 1987November 5, 2022) was an American singer and rapper. He came to fame as a teen pop singer in the late 1990s, establishing himself as a star among preteen and teenage audiences during the first years of th ...
, singer * Leslie Carter, singer * Nick Carter, musician,
Backstreet Boys Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (musician), Kevin Richardson. The band formed in 1993 in Orlando, Flori ...
* Willa Ford, singer and actress * Kathleen de la Peña McCook. library science professor * Addie Dickman Miller co-founder of
Ruskin College Ruskin College, originally known as Ruskin Hall, Oxford, is a higher education institution and part of the University of West London, in Oxford, England. It is not a Colleges of the University of Oxford, college of Oxford University. Named ...
*
Diontae Johnson Diontae Lamarcus Johnson (born July 5, 1996) is an American professional football wide receiver for the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Toledo Rockets and was selected by the Pittsbu ...
, American Football wide receiver for the Carolina Panthers


See also

*
Ruskin, British Columbia Ruskin is a rural, naturally-treed community, about east of Vancouver on the north shore of the Fraser River. It was named around 1900 after the English art critic, essayist, and prominent social thinker John Ruskin. Ruskin is one of the histor ...
* Ruskin Colony (Tennessee) * Ruskin Colleges


References


External links


Ruskin Historical Society
(including photos on subpages) * at visitruskin.com
Ruskin Incorporation CommitteeSouthern Hillsborough County History.
Hillsborough Community College Digital History. {{authority control Census-designated places in Hillsborough County, Florida Utopian communities in the United States Populated places established in 1907 Census-designated places in Florida Populated places on Tampa Bay U.S. Route 41