Julian, Nebraska History
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Julian
Julian was (and is) a village located in Nemaha County on the
Nemaha-Otoe county line. It was named for Julian Bahuaud, an early
settler from France. The first name was chosen as no one seemed to
be able to pronounce his last name.
The first house in Julian was located in the northwest part of
the village -just south of the county line. Doan Higgins owned the
farm, built the house, and later moved it to the hill west of town.
other houses were built before the town was platted, which probably
explains why the house east of the Methodist Church was in the
middle of the street when the Mesnet addition was platted in
1902.
Mr. and Mrs. Laurent Bernard, Julian Bahuaud, Mr. and Mrs. Jean
LaVignc. and Mr. and Mrs. Jean Bize were among the first French
settlers in the vicinity. All in all, about forty French families
settled in the Julian and Brock vicinities - their tombstones can be
found in St. Bernard's, Glenrock and Brock cemeteries. They were
mostly farmers and enjoyed farming the rich land in this area. One
Frenchman who did not farm, but did much for Julian was Calixte
Mesnet. He organized the Bank of Julian in 1891. He had had no
previous experience in banking, but he served the people well. He
encouraged them to use good farming practices, buy and raise
livestock from good bloodlines, and to improve their farmsteads. He
was married to the former Millie Bernard. All the settlers were not
French - many were Irish, English, German, Swiss and those from
eastern and southern states.
Mail delivery was a great problem in the 1850's and 1860's and
Thomas Tobin worked hard to help that situation. He offered to care
for the mail at his home. Finally, in 1869 the first mail was
delivered by Pony Express to Tobin Station. When the Missouri
Pacific railroad was completed, and the first train came through in
June 1887, it was decided to move the Post Office to the town of
Julian. The first post office in Julian was in the rear of the first
general store operated by brothers - Ben and John Burress. The
second location was where the Fire Department is now located; the
third was in the small building just west of Epler Mercantile;
fourth was in a corner of Ronald Volkmer's general store (where the
Burress' brothers had the first store in Julian); and the last and
present location is in a corner of Epler Mercantile and Joe Epler
has been the postmaster since 1974.
The town of Julian was given or sold by Silas H. H. Clark of St.
Louis. He was the Vice-Pres. of the Missouri Pacific Railroad. Part
of Julian was taken from the NW'/4 and part from the NE'/4 of Sec.
5. TWP. 6. North of Range 14. East of the 6th principal meridian. D.
M. Lewis platted the lots, streets, alleys, etc. and they were
registered Nov. 7. 1887. There were five more additions filed from
May 1893. through Feb. 1902.
Churches The Catholic Church was established in 1881. Before
that services were held in the Tobin home. The Methodist Church was
built in 1889; however church had been held in various schoolhouses
prior to building in Julian - Harmony, Pleasant Valley and Camp
Creek. The Evangelical United Brethren Church was built in 1893.
Before building in Julian services had been held in Rock Creek
schoolhouse.
Schools Julian school children first attended Rock Creek School
located one-half mile west and one mile south of town. but the first
recorded school census of Julian in 1893 showed 93 young people
between the ages of 5 and 21. March 10, 1898, Julian formed Dist.
#81 and bought 6 lots from the same man who had owned the property
which became Julian. A 2-story frame building was built which housed
a 9-grade school; later it became a 10-grade school. The frame
schoolhouse burned in 1917 and Rock Creek and Dist. #81 consolidated
and built the present Dist. #82 brick schoolhouse. It was a K-l2
school and the first class graduated in 1920. The last class to
graduate was in 1951. It is now a very good K-8 school and had 31
pupils during 1986-87.
Newspapers Julian had 3 newspapers at various times. The first
was the Julian Leader in 1896. Second newspaper was the Julian
Journal in 1898. The last was the Julian Gazette in 1899. The
subscription price of the latter was $1 per year.
Fraternal Organizations The Modern Woodmen of America had their
own building on Third Street. A.O.U.W. was called the Workman; R.T.
of J. - Royal Tribe of Joseph; and I.O.O.F. - Independent Order of
Oddfellows. The last three organizations met at the I.O.O.F.
hall.
Julian had an electric light plant about 1895-96 on the corner
across from the present Lincoln Grain elevator. George Hauptman used
an engine that had powered a threshing machine and rebuilt it. This
furnished lights for the stores and homes.
In June of 1899 Julian Bahuaud was murdered for his money. He
lived alone about 1/2 miles south of Julian. The murder went
unsolved for 14 years. In 1913 one of three men who were under
suspicion had a heatstroke in Kansas. He thought he was going to die
so he confessed to his part in the murder. He recovered, was brought
back to Auburn where he was tried and convicted. He spent the rest
of his life in the Nebraska State Penitentiary.
The Julian Gazette of 1899 reported that there were four trains
running north and three trains running south DAILY. This included
both freight and passenger trains.
Julian got telephones in 1902. The Auburn Post, in 1902, reported
a population of 400 for Julian, and said the stores were unequalled
by any other stores in a town the size of Julian. It was said that
the proprietors spoke French, German and English. About that time
Julian had three elevators, two hotels, three general merchandise
stores, a millinery shop, a dressmaking shop, bakery, lumber yard,
slaughter house, meat market (one meat merchant packed his meat in
ice and delivered meat to the farmers), ice house, brick yard, jail,
livery and dray barn, pump and windmill shop, saloon, barber shop,
blacksmith shop, harness and buggy shop, hardware store, implement
store, two doctors, and a drug store.
Julian has always been a town that enjoyed playing ball. It had a
baseball team in 1912- the ball diamond was located west of Rock
Creek on the north side of the road. Later on some of the young men
played on the Center ball team. Even later they had a softball team.
People of Julian are still playing ball today!
During World War I Julian had a Home Guard Unit that drilled with
Auburn part of the time. An interesting fact is that not one young
man of the Julian vicinity was "drafted" during WWl -every
young man 'volunteered'.
May 20, 1918, the French people of Nemaha County held a picnic
and celebration - this included those who had stayed in the Julian
vicinity and others who had moved elsewhere. It was held in a grove
just west ofiulian on what is now the John Hodges' property. Stories
were told and songs sung. The address was given by CL. Mesnet in
both French and English. Moving pictures were taken of those
assembled and also at the train station where some of the French
boys were leaving for service. The Home Guard paraded.
The Nemaha County Herald had this account of Armistice Day in
Julian: "At four o'clock Monday morning news of the ending of
the war was received, and at once announced by ringing the church
bells and firing guns. As daylight appeared flags were seen floating
from all the buildings and everybody was out to celebrate. At nine
o'clock the teachers lined up the pupils at the school building and
proceeded to march through the streets headed by Captain Teddy Lux,
and the junior band. The crowd finally gathered at the square when
prayer was offered and a few words of gratitude spoken by Rev.
Swearingen. The celebration lasted all through the day and was
revived in the evening when guns and cannon roared for several
hours."
Julian had a disastrous fire in August of 1919. The fire started
in the Klone Livery barn and soon spread west to the Pauley Lumber
Co. and then across the street south to the Hotel. All three
buildings were a total loss. The safe in which all the books and
papers were stored, and a few piles of tiling and sewer pipe were
the only things in the Pauley Lumber yard which escaped destruction.
The contents of the Hotel were saved from the fire. Both Nebraska
City and Auburn Fire departments responded to calls for assistance.
They helped Julian residents to save other businesses and residences
from the fire. Plate glass windows of other stores were cracked by
the heat, and a dozen roofs were smoking at the same time. The
telephone office was just back of the lumber yard and the operator
remained on duty all the time the fire was progressing until
compelled to retire by the terrific heat. The above account of the
fire was printed in the August 15, 1919 issue of the Nemaha County
Herald.
There was a movie theater in Julian in the early 20's - they
showed "silent" movies and music was furnished by local
musicians. In the late 20's and 30's Julian had some of the first
"Drive In" movies. The merchants donated money for the
"free" movies that were shown on the west side of the
lumber yard. Literally hundreds of people came to Julian for these
movies.
The depression of the 30's took its toll, but the people
survived. One merchant offered his farm customers 3t above market
price (which at that time was lO't per bushel) for their corn in
order to help them pay their machinery and repair bills. He knew his
farmer friends were proud people and wanted to pay their bills. He
had cribs of corn standing for quite some time.
Julian doesn't have too many residents now, but there is a water
system in town, the sidewalks are cement instead of wooden planks,
the streets are no longer DIRT, but armor coated, and it is filled
with people who CARE - about their property, their neighbors, the
school, and their churches. This was demonstrated on July 19, 1987
when Julian celebrated its first 100 years! A day long celebration
was enjoyed - starting with community church services, a potluck
dinner at the schoolhouse, a program consisting of a brief history
of Julian, a slide presentation including both old and new pictures,
poems about "Little Towns," recognition of three
ninety-plus present and former residents, games for the children, a
co-ed ball game and closing with an old fashioned ice cream social.
all agreed that Julian might not he the "boom town" it was
at the turn of the century, But it is not "dead" and will
continue for another 100 years!!
Submitted by Della Hodges-Lavigne to the Nemaha County
History Book; copied with permission from the Nemaha County History
Book.
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