William Brickell is co-founder of the city of Miami, along with Julia Tuttle. He moved to South Florida from Cleveland, Ohio in 1871, where his family opened a trading post and post office on the south bank of the Miami River.
William and his family owned large amounts of land from Coconut Grove to the Miami River. Julia Tuttle (the Brickell family’s neighbor) is the one behind getting Henry Flagler to extend his east coast railroad and resort hotels to the area. William Brickell and Julia Tuttle contributed the land which Henry Flagler used to create the Flagler Florida East Coast Railway.
After William Brickell’s death, Mary Brickell (his widow) became one of the city’s prominent real estate developers and managers.