Herman Joseph Justin

Who was Herman Joseph Justin?

Herman Joseph Justin was born in Lafayette, Indiana. Justin's father's profession, cigar making, didn't suit H. J., so he moved to Texas in 1877 at the age of 18. First settling in Gainesville, Texas at a time when Indian raids from the Oklahoma Territory were just beginning to wane, Justin was first employed as a shoe repairman at a local Gainesville shop. After a few years working on shoes, he moved 40 miles west to the fledgling town of Burlington, Texas in Montague County, Texas and opened a boot shop with a $35 loan from the local barber.

The town he chose for relocation was ideal for a boot maker. Burlington was not only on the Chisholm Trail near the crossing of the Red River, but also served as a supply headquarters for cowboys and ranchers. In Burlington, Joe met and married Annie Allen, and in 1889 moved south to Nocona, Texas with their first son, John. Although successful in Spanish Fort, Joe knew that the business environment in Nocona would be more promising due to the newly constructed Missouri-Kansas-Texas railway and expanded market capacity.

Once in Nocona and capitalizing on the larger market, Annie Justin, H.J.'s wife, developed a fit kit in the early 1890s, which included a tape measure and an instructions chart for taking one's measurements for a pair of custom fit boots. Cowboys carried the fit kits with them on their journeys, becoming Justin's first traveling sales force.