In 1865, James D. Brown settled three miles southeast of present day Brainard and later established a post office called Urban. In 1878, Brown's son-in-law, Thomas Logan, established the town of Brainard near the Union Pacific Railroad. Named in honor of David Brainerd, a missionary to the Indians, the town quickly grew with original settlers of German and English origin. Soon, there was a large influx of Czech pioneers from Bohemia and Moravia. The population varied from 61 in 1880, to 468 in 1920, to 351 today.
The Community Club has 29 VHS tapes that have been transferred to DVDs and are available for purchase for $10 plus $2 shipping. These include Old Hometown Festivals, interviews of community residents in the 1990s entitled "Remembering Brainard," Community Club activities especially Evening in the Park, and the Q125 celebration in 2003. View a complete list of DVDs that are available for purchase. For information, email Sharon Bruner at sharonbruner@mac.com.
City Hall has a display of historic pictures of early Brainard which may be viewed during visiting hours or by appointment. There are also many scrapbooks of town and community history that may be viewed. Information, stories, and photographs are being collected for files on Brainard history which will be stored in the City Hall for research and preservation. Scrapbooks of community events, NCIP entries, the Q125 celebration, and previous hometown festivals are available for viewing. For information on the history of Brainard, former residents, or to share photos and history that you may have, call (402) 545-4261 or (402) 545-3901.
Actor, Lyle Talbot (1902-1996), grew up in Brainard, living in the Talbot Hotel where his grandmother was the proprietress. He started his movie career in 1932 and made over 150 films and appeared in many TV shows. Lyle had fond memories of living in Brainard.
James Cabela (1869-1937), grandfather of Jim and Dick Cabela, co-founders of Cabela's World's Foremost Outfitters in Sidney, Neb., immigrated to Brainard in 1884. James operated several businesses in Brainard and served on the Village Board. The Cabela family left Brainard in 1932 and established a furniture store in Chappell, Neb.
Adam and Nannie (Bozarth) Hall homesteaded southeast of Brainard in 1870. Their three grandsons, Joyce, Rollie, and William Hall, pooled their money and opened the Norfolk Post Card Company in about 1907. In 1910, they started selling greeting cards in Kansas City. They named it Hall Brothers which later became the Hallmark Company.
Gravestone Project
Brainard area cemeteries have been walked and every tombstone has been photographed by local volunteers. Over 1700 tombstones have been photographed and all data written on the stones has been gathered for genealogical research and history preservation from the following local cemeteries:
- Brainard Cemetery (IOOF)
- Brown Family (Urban) Cemetery
- Old Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery
- New Holy Trinity Catholic Cemetery
- Bohemian National Cemetery
- St. Luke's Catholic Cemetery, Loma
- Fricke-Guenther Cemetery, south of Bruno
Maps, names, and gravestone dates and locations are available at the Brainard City Hall. Directories will be placed at most of these cemetery entrances in 2011.
To view information regarding these and all cemeteries in Butler County, view: http://www.butlercountygallery.com. Photos of over 18,800 tombstones, located in 45 known cemeteries scattered throughout the county are available.
For more stories on past and present business and family histories, please refer to the Q125 celebration section for information about ordering the 2003 History Book.