Ruskin is an unincorporated census-designated place in Hillsborough County, Florida, United States. U.S. Route 41 currently runs through the center of the community. The town 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 in Trenton, Missouri, and Mrs. Adaline D. Miller. It is named after the essayist and social critic John Ruskin (1819–1900). Miller established the short lived Ruskin College.