Julia Tuttle (1849–1898) was an American businesswoman and real estate developer credited as the founder of Miami, Florida. She is historically recognized as the only woman to have founded a major American city.
Born Julia DeForest Sturtevant in Cleveland, Ohio, she first visited the Biscayne Bay region of Florida in the 1870s. After the death of her husband, Frederick Leonard Tuttle, in 1886, she moved permanently to Florida in 1891. She purchased 640 acres of land on the north bank of the Miami River, which included the site of Fort Dallas.
Tuttle is primarily known for her role in persuading industrialist Henry Flagler to extend his Florida East Coast Railway to the Miami area. During the Great Freeze of 1894–1895, which destroyed citrus crops across much of Florida, the Biscayne Bay region remained unaffected. Historical accounts state that Tuttle sent Flagler a bouquet of fresh orange blossoms to demonstrate that the local climate was resistant to frost. This gesture, along with the offer of land for a railroad station and a hotel, convinced Flagler to extend his rail line southward.
The extension of the railway led to the rapid development of the region. The City of Miami was officially incorporated on July 28, 1896. Tuttle died in 1898, leaving behind a significant impact on the urban development of South Florida. Her legacy is commemorated by the Julia Tuttle Causeway, a major thoroughfare connecting Miami to Miami Beach, and a statue located in Miami's Bayfront Park.