JULIAN – Lawlessness, fortunes in gold, French settlement and the rise of the automobile are parts of Nebraska history that the Julian Preservation Committee recognized Sunday.

It is a history of “boom town” to sleepy village and the idea of a 98-year-old woman who saw potential when many others saw a run-down, old gas station.

  Julian Preservation Committee

Kevin Boos: “We lived here now since 2002 and my mom was now 98 and moved in with us about four and a half  years ago.
She said, ‘Kevin, lets up some flowers in the flower planters by the gas station.”
And I say, “mom, we’ve got an acre to plant flowers. We don’t need across the street at the gas station.”

 

A couple years later she says "Kevin, let’s restore that gas station.”

  Dan Swanson

The idea gained support from the village board and a committee of citizens and to Boos’ surprise $30,000 was raised and the project done in one year.

He said many of Sunday’s visitors were also surprised at how much history is packed into a village of 59 residents.

 

 

Boos: “What they remember is the place falling apart, which it had for years because, as people moved out and went to Nebraska City or other cities, Julian pretty much was dying. I wanted to live in a place that is nice. I love it here. So we decided let us fix it up and make it a place people want to live. And, it’s working.”

  Dan Swanson

Sherry Winkinhofer  portrayed Mrs. Henry Ford and talk about how her husband’s invention impacted villages like Julian.

Winkinhofer: “By 1920 there were 8 million cars on the roads in the United States and by 1928, the year of this gas station, there were 24 million cars in the United States, and they all needed fuel and maintenance to keep them running on the road.”

Beth Kernes Krause, whose traces her family back to the 40 French families that originally settled in Julian,  provided highlights of the town’s history. Mr. Julien Bahuaud, who had made his fortune in gold mining, founded the city in 1887 when the Nebraska Southern Railway connected Auburn to Nebraska City. Mr. Bahuaud was murdered in 1899 and his gold stolen.

  Dan Swanson

 

The town grew to 206 people in 1900, the largest French immigrant community in southeast Nebraska.

In addition to the restored gas station, the progress day featured newly named Isabelle Park and a honey bee sculpture named after the town’s Louise Scholl Howe, who had petitioned state government with her elementary students at Auburn to name the honey bee the state insect.