Julia Tuttle

Julia DeForest Tuttle (born Julia DeForest Sturtevant; January 22, 1849 – September 14, 1898) was an American businesswoman who was largely responsible for, and the original owner of, the land upon which Miami, Florida, was built. For this reason, she is called the "Mother of Miami." She is the only woman to found a major American city.

History

Julia Sturtevant was the daughter of Ephraim Sturtevant, a Florida planter and state senator. She married Frederick Leonard Tuttle on January 22, 1867. They had two children: a daughter, Frances Emeline (b. 1868), and a son, Henry Athelbert (b. 1870). Julia Tuttle first visited the Biscayne Bay region of southern Florida in 1875 with her husband, visiting a 40-acre (16 ha) orange grove her father had purchased. She loved the experience, but returned to Cleveland, Ohio, with her family.

Moving to southern Florida

Tuttle came to Fort Dallas, Florida, from Cleveland, Ohio, via steamship after her father and mother had moved to South Florida. A little over ten years later in 1886, her husband died; the foundry had already been sold. Upon his death, she found that her husband had not been good at managing money. This placed Julia in dire financial straits. To supplement her small income, she had to turn their four-story home into a boarding house and tearoom for young ladies. In 1890, when her father died and left her his land in Florida, she sold her home in Ohio and relocated to Biscayne Bay.