Known as the “Mother of Miami,” Julia Tuttle wasn’t allowed to vote in 1896, but that didn’t stop her from becoming the only female founder of a major American city. While others saw a swampy wasteland, she saw unlimited potential. #WomensHistoryMonth 
“It may seem strange to you,” she wrote to a friend, “but it is the dream of my life to see this wilderness turned into a prosperous country.”
nytimes.com/2021/12/03/obi…
nytimes.com/2021/12/03/obi…
A tireless businesswoman, after the Great Freeze of 1894, Tuttle convinced railroad owner Henry Flagler to extend train service from Palm Beach to Miami by sending him unfrozen orange blossoms from South Florida. This was the beginning of an economic boom.
Said one historian, "It rose as if by magic. Here's the magician.” Before she died at the young age of 49, she was credited with founding the city’s first laundry, bakery, daily, and Episcopal church. Today the statue of the “Mother of Miami” stands in Bayfront Park.
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