Julia Tuttle was an American businesswoman who owned the property upon which Miami, Florida, was built. She is the only woman to have founded what would become a major American city.
Born Julia Sturtevant, she 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 Ethelbert (b. 1870).
Tuttle used the money from her parents' estate to purchase the James Egan grant of 640 acres, where the city of Miami is now located, on the north side of the river. Tuttle took a leading role in the movement to start a new city on the Miami River, but knew that decent transportation (in that time, a railroad) was necessary to attract development. Tuttle worked with Henry Flagler to extend his railroad to Fort Dallas (Miami), and offered to divide her large real estate holdings if he would do this. On April 22, 1896, train service of the Florida East Coast Railway came to the area.
