Sun City Development and Motion Picture Studio Plat Map Sheets

During the 1920s Florida Land Boom, with its burgeoning population, many investors from St. Petersburg, Tampa, and Jacksonville moved to Sun City, near present-day Ruskin, in Hillsborough County. The Florida population was growing four times faster than any other state, spurred by the abolition of income and inheritance taxes and an active road-building program. The 500-acre Sun City (FL) Motion Picture Studio was built at a cost of $300,000 through land investments near present-day Ruskin, in Hillsborough County, in late 1925. It was constructed in the Spanish-Moor style with business offices, a projection room, a carpentry room, and 20 dressing rooms. Unlike any other studio, it offered a visitors gallery where Sun City residents and tourists could watch motion picture stars work. The studio was dedicated in October 1925, and, according to the St. Petersburg Times, "1,500 speculators poured into the new silver-screen development."

Herbert C. Van Swearingen, who made his living in real estate in Cleveland, Ohio, was the chief developer of Sun City. At the dedication of the studio, Swearingen spoke to everyone in attendance, vowing to "continue to build a moving picture city of gigantic proportions and one of the most beautiful in the country, providing all the comforts of the ideal home life and with environments that will excite the active interest of noted producers throughout the nation." Other local newspapers noted that rose bushes were planted along its main street leading to a state-of-the-art movie studio, tourists camped on the edge of town, and there were plans to build homes, a city hall, school, theater, and church.

Initially, the venture was successful. Two-hundred 60-by-40-foot lots were sold for $1500 each, then resold for more. Land sales hit $2-million. However, by early 1926, the price of land had climbed so dramatically that new buyers could not afford it. Many who had bought land could not cash in on such high prices, and put their land up for sale. Speculators who bought contracts on property for a 10-percent down payment were eager to sell.

On July 4, 1932, all of Sun City was auctioned at the Hillsborough County Courthouse. Orlando businessman W.W. Staplen dismantled the movie studio and sold the bricks for $1,500. According to the St. Petersburg Times, "streets named after 1920s movie stars washed away, weeds soon overtook the flower beds, and palmetto grew where houses were to be built."

In the mid to late 1930s, J.T. Fleming, a developer and inventor from Georgia who went broke during the land boom in Florida and lost everything except 500 acres in southern Hillsborough County, bought special masters deeds to Sun City for $100. He settled all its delinquent taxes for $163 under a special legislative act. Fleming believed that the land in Sun City would be worth millions as a moviemaking destination where filmmakers and actors would live among regular residents. However, Fleming became increasingly involved in legal battles. He contended that the Florida State Road Department illegally cut a road through Sun City and turned Gloria Swanson Avenue into a drainage ditch. Fleming hired a Tampa law firm to sue the department and won $26,000. The proceeds he won from that case led to other lawsuits against the state and county, which grew so numerous that he had trouble finding a lawyer to handle his cases. After years of continuous legal challenges, Fleming in 1953 was ruled insane, incarcerated for 19 months, and finally had his rights restored by a Fulton County (GA) court. When Fleming died in January 1968, Hillsborough County reclaimed his 500 acres of land near present-day Ruskin for unpaid taxes.

As of 2007, Sun City was largely a mobile home park situated among industrial sites, fish farms, orchards, and scrapyards near Ruskin. Most of its acreage became divided among three landholders, with the county holding deeds to some property.