One of the more interesting facts to come out of the development of Gardenville Resort area in 1910 (which preceded the founding of Gibsonton, south by more than a decade) was that the developer W. D. Davis of Tampa renamed Bullfrog Creek to the Roosevelt River. While the renaming was not official (and didn't stick), it was a marketing ploy to play on the popularity of former President Teddy Roosevelt to garner interest in his new community of Gardenville. Note the platting of lots on both side of Roosevelt River which was done to sell lots to fund the resort area planned for the beach area between the Roosevelt River and the Alafia River. The community didn't prosper long and was ultimately merged into Gibsonton

Early transportation in South Hillsborough County was difficult as there were few, barely passable roadways and pathways. Rivers often served as the primary transportation method. This is a 1910 photo of river transport along the Little Manatee River. Similar boats could be found on the Alafia River, as well.

Morris Park was a community created by Ruskin Founder, George Miller in 1913

By 1911, the new town of Ruskin was a thriving, cooperative community, and Miller sought to create a ‘twin town’ to the east. Through a complex series of land deals involving Wimauma Founder Captain C. H. Davis, Miller acquired development rights to lands northeast of Wimauma.

It was here, midway between Wimauma and Balm, along the Seaboard Air Lines rail tracks, that Miller laid out his new town: Morris Park, named in honor of William Morris of England. Morris was the philosophical successor to England’s John Ruskin, whose ideas of social organization and education initially inspired Miller to found Ruskin in 1908. Nothing remains of Morris Park today, although a neighborhood in Wimauma is named in memory of the town (Morris Park Farms.)

Welfare Hall. A thriving poultry industry arose. By May 1913, the new railroad station opened. Growth continued into 1914 with announced plans for a canning factory and a cane mill. The telephone connection with Ruskin became a reality.

Beginning in 1915, however, Miller seemingly lost interest in Morris Park. In a major blow to the town’s survival, the sawmill closed, and its employees and their families moved away. By 1916, Miller’s and Ruskin’s attention was diverted by World War I, which took many of Ruskin’s young men, resulting in the eventual closing of Ruskin College.

(This excerpt, below) is by historian Charles Nelson (affiliated with HCC Ruskin's South Shore History Project). The full article was published in the Osprey Observer on Nov 7, 2019)
Early growth in Morris Park seemed promising. By February 1913, the town boasted a boarding house and a store. A Sunday school was organized in

Few land sales are reported in 1918/19 and plans for connecting rail lines were abandoned. The community never recovered, and by 1930, much of the town’s lands were sold in chancery court.

Photo of William Morris

By 1911, the new town of Ruskin was a thriving, cooperative community, and founder George Miller sought to create a ‘twin town’ to the east. Through a complex series of land deals involving Wimauma Founder Captain C. H. Davis, Miller acquired development rights to lands northeast of Wimauma.

It was here, midway between Wimauma and Balm, along the Seaboard Air Lines rail tracks, that Miller laid out his new town: Morris Park, named in honor of William Morris of England. Morris was the philosophical successor to England’s John Ruskin, whose ideas of social organization and education initially inspired Miller to found Ruskin in 1908.

This map is one of the very few maps found to show the location of Lilllibridge in SE Hillsborough County. The location would have spanned the South Prong of the Hillsborough River along today's Jameson Road, east of SR 37. There are no remnants of the once thriving town today.

By mid-century, only four families remained in the Lillibridge area. Once listed on Hillsborough County’s register of historic places, the sprawling Jameson House (owned by one of Lillibridge’s earliest settlers) was demolished sometime before 1995. The house was one of the last reminders that a community existed about 3 miles east of today’s state SR 39.

The small town of Lillibridge in SE Hillsborough County, near Picnic, no longer exists. If you travel East on Jameson Road off of SR 37, you'll cross a bridge over the South prong of the Alafia River. It was along these banks that Lillibridge was first settled in 1889 and fully established by 1897. The town was a sizeable mining community that died out when nearby phosphate mines closed and moved operations elsewhere in the County.

Gardenville was the name of a planned resort and community planned for the mouth of Bullfrog Creek

The following is an excerpt of an article by Historian Charles Nelson (Affiliate of HCC Ruskin on the South Shore history project) which was published in the Osprey Observer on October 8, 2019)

Gardenville and "The Roosevelt River [are] the 1910 marketing creations of Tampa realtor W. D. Davis. He informally renamed Bullfrog Creek in an attempt to bolster real estate sales in his two new subdivisions located where the ‘river’ empties into Hillsborough Bay. Although the Roosevelt River name did appear in land sale documents, it never popularly caught on and faded into history. More lasting was the name, Gardenville, a town established in 1912, which included those subdivisions.

But today, even the name of Gardenville has all but disappeared. The small village was ultimately swept into the town of Gibsonton, which got its start in 1923 when James. B. Gibson created the suburb of Gibsonton-on-the-Bay on the south side of the Alafia River. The Gardenville name survives as the site of a local park on Symmes Rd. in Gibsonton and includes the park’s restored 1926 Gardenville School, which houses Hillsborough County’s Aging Services facility.

1957 Photograph of the Wimauma Church of God Tabernacle. Wimauma was the site of annual COG Camp Meeting that attracted 1000s of visitors from Florida and the SE part of the US.

(From an article written by Charles Nelson (Historian for HCC Ruskin History Project and the Ruskin Library and published in the Osprey Observer, June 7, 2019)

The Church of God was founded in Tennessee in 1886 and is the oldest Pentecostal Church in America. The annual camp meeting is a cherished tradition of the Church and is still widely held. Florida’s Wimauma Camp Meeting is the oldest and largest Church of God camp meeting site in the United States still in operation.

Pentecostals had been holding camp meetings at Pleasant Grove, near Durant, for many years before the turn of the 20th century. Most major denominations sponsored at least one camp there a year and rather than continuing to share, the Durant Church sought a new exclusive location. In 1913, land along Tiger Lake (now Lake Wimauma) was selected as the permanent camp and purchased by the Church of God at Durant. The scenic beauty of Lake Wimauma had a lot to do with building the camp in Wimauma.

The first Wimauma Camp Meeting was held in 1914 and housed in an open-air barn. Campers slept in tents on the ground. A larger Tabernacle replaced the original structure in 1924. Separate male and female dormitories, an expanded tent ground, a cafeteria and, later, small cottages were built to house a growing number of camp goers.

As crowds expanded, a third Tabernacle was built: an open-air structure that seated 3,700 worshipers. It was later expanded to seat over 5,000. The open-air construction served late arriving worshippers who could bring their own chairs or sit out on the campgrounds to listen to the five daily services. A fourth, fully enclosed and air-conditioned structure was built in 1985, which continues to serve the annual camp meeting and houses today’s Wimauma Convention Center.

Photo of the abandoned railroad bridge over the Little Manatee River (SW of Wimauma, Hillsborough County). Bridge was constructed in 1902 and abandoned in 1986. Originally, it was built by the Seaboard Airlines in their Turkey Creek to Bradenton route that opened up much of eastern and southern Hillsborough County (then called Braiden Town). It is a trust style steel bridge. The bridge "bones" still remain as pictured above.