The son of immigrants from the
Burgundy region of
France, Juilliard was
born at sea while his parents were en route to the United States. His parents were Jean Nicolas Juilliard, a shoemaker, and Anna Burlette, who were both
Protestants. Augustus was raised near
Louisville, Ohio, and attended local schools. In 1866, Juilliard moved to New York City, where he worked in the garment industry for a textile manufacturing company that produced
worsted fabrics. When the company went bankrupt seven years later, Juilliard founded his own corporation, the Augustus D. Juilliard Company, in 1874. The corporation distributed textiles including wool, silk, and cotton. In 1884, Juilliard was the plaintiff in the U.S. Supreme Court case
Juilliard v. Greenman, challenging the law requiring acceptance of
federal reserve notes as legal currency; the challenge failed. He became a successful and wealthy merchant, who added to his fortune through investments and board appointments in banking, railroad and insurance. He resided in
Tuxedo Park, New York, where he owned a grand mansion, and also had an apartment on the West Side of Manhattan. A patron of the
Metropolitan Museum of Art and the
American Museum of Natural History, he was serving as President of the Metropolitan Opera Real Estate Company at the time of his death. He was interred in the family mausoleum at the
Woodlawn Cemetery in
the Bronx, New York City. ==Personal life==