1964 - The imposing Ringling Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Longboat was finally demolished on this date. John Ringling first moved to Sarasota on Florida's southwest coast in 1912 andin earnest developing the sleepy Florida town. One such project was a large luxury hotel which Ringling planned to be a part of the Ritz-Carlton franchise. Not long after construction began in 1926, the project ran into financial trouble and with the onset of the Great Depression the hotel was abandoned unfinished. For decades it sat empty at the tip of Longboat Key until finally purchased for a new resort and the crumbling remains were torn down.