Julian, NC
Guilford County · Altitude 805 ft.
History
Julian is a Census-designated place in southern Guilford County. This place is located about 3½ miles east of Climax on the A&Y mainline. It currently lies along North Carolina Highway 62, just east of U.S. Route 421. The town is at an altitude of 805 feet above sea level.
The 1916 ICC valuation recorded Julian’s depot as a standard Type 3 combination station — “similar in all respects to other type 3 depots on this valuation section” — with board-and-batten walls, a metal-shingle roof, and a chert passenger platform of about 440 square yards; its oil house followed the standard plan dated November 1905. The survey also caught the settlement in a hard season. Of the two section dwellings, one was “not now occupied,” and the other had been “entirely destroyed by fire” about a year and a half earlier — roughly the spring of 1915 — with only its chimney still standing. Julian’s one industry with a dedicated siding was the Johnson Chair Company (see Industries).
The ICC valuation records provided this photograph of the Julian depot (circa 1918).
Although the location of this toolhouse was not listed with this photo in the ICC valuation documents, the Julian track diagram indicates a toolhouse just to the east of the siding and depot. I doubt the A&Y had multiple designs for their toolhouses, so it should be representative of the toolhouse located here in Julian.
Track Diagram
An image from the ICC valuation maps gives a fair idea of how the track and depot were laid out.
On an A&Y timetable in 1934 Julian was listed as a stop with capacity for 19 cars.
Industries
A Southern Railway Shippers Guide from 1916 listed four industries in Julian using the A&Y for delivering and receiving products by rail (although some may have used the station or team track rather than having a dedicated siding). The ICC valuation map depicts the location of the Johnson Chair Company. I will add other industries as I receive information about them.
| Industry | Goods Shipped/Rec’d | Company Name |
|---|---|---|
| box, barrel, keg & crate factory | box shooks | R. M. York |
| flour and grist mill | flour, meal, feed | Julian Milling Co. |
| sawmill | pine and oak rough | R. N. Weese |
| woodworking factory | rough turned chair stock | Johnson Chair Co. |
Odds and Ends
Here I will include any information that is non-railroad in nature that helps provide a hint as to the character of the people and industries who lived and worked in Julian. I welcome any and all information about this former A&Y community!