Source: Wikipedia
Julia DeForest Tuttle, (born Julia DeForest Sturtevant; January 22, 1849[1]
– 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."
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History
Julia Sturtevant 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 (0.16 Km2) 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 from Cleveland, Ohio, via steamship with
her father, Ephean T. Sturtevant, in 1871. A little over ten years later
in 1886, her husband died, leaving her the iron foundry
he owned, which she continued to operate. In 1891, when her father died
and left her his land in Florida, she sold the iron foundry business in
Ohio and relocated to Biscayne Bay.
She used the money from the sale of the business to purchase the James Egan grant of 640 acres (2.6 km2), where the city of Miami is now located, on the north side of the river, including the old Fort Dallas
stone buildings, which she converted into her home. In 1891, Tuttle
brought her family to live there. Tuttle repaired and converted the home
into one of the show places in the area with a sweeping view of the
river and Biscayne Bay.
Tuttle immediately decided to take a leading role in the movement to
start a new city on the Miami River, but knew that a decent
transportation (in that time, a railroad) was necessary to attract development. Tuttle tried to induce Henry Flagler
to extend his railroad to Fort Dallas (Miami), and offered to divide
her large real estate holdings if he would do this. She wrote numerous
letters to Flagler in this connection and finally made the trip to St.
Augustine and in person repeated her offer. Her efforts were of no avail
at that time; however, providence favored Tuttle. The great freeze on
1894-1895 devastated the old orange belt of central and northern
Florida, destroying valuable groves and wiping out fortunes overnight.
Either Flagler then recalled Tuttle's story of the tropical Biscayne
Bay County weather and sent some men to investigate, or Tuttle alerted
Flagler that the freeze had spared the Miami River,
sending as evidence a bouquet of flowers and foliage (possibly oranges)
to Flagler, whose order to extend the Florida East Coast Railway was
then given. On February 15, 1896 Joseph B. Reilly, John Sewell and E.G.
Sewell, the vanguard of the Flagler forces, arrived, and the work of
building the Royal Palm Hotel was commenced.
Julia Tuttle statue in Bayfront Park - Miami
Under an agreement between the two, Tuttle supplied Flagler with the
land for a hotel and a railroad station for free, and they split the
remainder of her 640 acres (2.6 km²) north of the Miami River in
alternating sections. On April 22, 1896, train service of the Florida East Coast Railway
came to the area. On July 28, male residents voted to incorporate a new
city, Miami. Thereafter, the city steadily grew from a small town to a
metropolis.
Death and legacy
In 1898, Tuttle fell ill with apparent meningitis. Plans were made to move her to Asheville, North Carolina,
by rail for treatment, but her condition deteriorated before she could
be transported. She died on September 14, 1898, at age 49. Her funeral
took place at her Fort Dallas home, and she was buried in a place of
honor at the City of Miami Cemetery.
She died leaving a large amount of debt, partly the result of her
altruistic land grants to Flagler. Her children sold her remaining land
to pay off the debt. For that reason, her name was mostly lost as a
contributor to Miami's founding until it was placed on a causeway for Interstate 195 over Biscayne Bay. In contrast, the name of William Brickell,
a large landowner on the south side of the Miami River who contributed
to Tuttle's efforts to incorporate the city, was widely used on the
south side of what became Miami.
Just as Tuttle is called the Mother of Miami, Flagler became known as the Father of Miami. Coincidentally, both Tuttle and Flagler had previously lived in Cleveland, where they first met.
In addition to the Julia Tuttle Causeway, the memory of Tuttle has been honored with a statue in Bayfront Park.[2]
References
- ^ Wright, E. Lynne (2001). More Than Petticoats: Remarkable Florida Women. Guilford, Conn.: TwoDot. p. 22. ISBN 978-1-56044-993-5.
- ^ Kelly House (27 July 2010). "Julia Tuttle statue arrives". The Miami Herald. Retrieved 28 July 2010.
Sources
- Akin, Edward N.. The Cleveland Connection: Revelations from the John D. Rockefeller - Julia Tuttle Correspondences. In Tequesta: the Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida, no. XLII (1982). [1]
- Peters, Thelma. Biscayne Country, 1870-1926. Miami, Fla.: Banyan Books, c1981.
- Tuttle family papers. Finding aid. [2]
- Wiggins, Larry. The Birth of the City of Miami. In Tequesta: the Journal of the Historical Association of Southern Florida, no. LV (1995). [3]
