Enid Justin: Lady Bootmaker

Enid Justin and the town of Nocona, Texas, have been synonymous with the boot-making industry for over sixty years.  Miss Enid supervised the operations of Nocona Boot Company from a fledgling $5,000 business in 1925 to a multimillion dollar enterprise in 1980.

Enid's involvement with the craft of bootmaking, however, did not begin in 1925.  As a daughter of H. J. "Joe" Justin, the business of boots was a family inheritance.  Joe Justin left Indiana and his father's cigar business in the late 1870s to come to Texas to work in the leather industry. After a few years working in a shoe shop in Gainesville, Justin moved west to Burlington (later known as Spanish Fort) in Montague County, where he started a boot business.  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 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 railroad's presence.

The H. J. Justin Boot Company, located on Clay Street in Nocona, soon developed into a thriving little business with nearly twenty employees.  By the early 1900s, the number of employees grew even more as the Justin children began working in the shop.  Enid, who was born on April 18, 1894, began work at the age of twelve inserting order forms in catalogs.  At the age of fifteen, after a disagreement with local officials concerning the propriety of dancing, Enid dropped out of school and was employed stitching boot tops in her father's shop. Enid later regretted leaving school and always advised children to stay in school and use their education to succeed in life.

The Justin boot operation continued successfully in the early 1900s.  One reason it prospered was the quality of the product demanded by Joe Justin.  Another factor was the introduction of a self-measuring system for boots, developed by Annie Justin, which allowed cowboys to order boots by mail and receive perfectly fitted boots.  Joe Justin refused to patent the valuable invention, and the other boot makers throughout the country used it.

In 1915 Enid Justin married Julius Stelzer, a telegraph operator, and traveled to Galveston for their honeymoon.  Enid, restless to return home, cut the honeymoon short and left Galveston with Julius, thus missing by one day a hurricane that killed hundreds of people and destroyed the hotel where they had been staying.

The next few years were painful for Enid.  Her baby daughter Anna Jo, who was born in 1916, passed away in 1918.  This tragedy was soon followed by the death of her father, "Daddy Joe," who suffered a stroke in the same year.  Enid left the family business, not to return until 1925.  The success of the Justin boot business, under the leadership of Joe Justin's sons, continued into the decade of the Twenties.  The inducements and advantages of business in a big city, in this instance Fort Worth, convinced the Justin brothers to move the boot operation from Nocona in 1925.  Enid objected to this move, believing that her father would never have approved leaving a town and people that had meant so much to the family.  Enid's brothers, in turn, discouraged her from her plans to start a boot business in Nocona, remarking that she would lose all her money in a short time.  Enid disregarded her brothers' advice, even though it nearly proved correct.

In September 1925, with $5,000 of borrowed bank money, her husband Julius, and a few employees from the Justin operation who did not move to Fort Worth, Enid founded the Nocona Boot Company.  Julius, who had been trained by Joe Justin in the art of making high-quality boots, served as president.  Enid worked as shipping clerk, bill collector, stenographer, and salesperson for the company.  She also found it necessary during the first few years to earn extra money preparing lunches for oil field workers, operating a boarding house, sewing and ironing for residents, peddling coal, and selling washing machines. Enid and Julius were not harming the company finances with their salaries - Enid drew $3 per week and Julius $15.

In addition to Enid's willingness to earn extra money through a variety of "employment opportunities," the company was aided by the good fortune of an oil strike near Nocona in 1926.  The oil workers needed lace-up boots, which Nocona Boot Company was in a position to supply.  Enid also confronted the problem of male reluctance to buy boots from a woman by hitting the road on sales excursions, beginning in 1926.  With her sister Myrl, Enid Set off in a Model T on the dirt roads of central and west Texas, looking for volume buyers in the towns. Her first sales trip was a success, and more than made up for the unsettling experiences of automobile breakdowns.

Enid's hard work in the early years brought the company the rewards of acceptance and modest expansion.  Even the Depression did not negatively affect Nocona Boot Company, because Enid resisted the temptation to grow too quickly.  In 1931 the operation's audit showed sales of approximately $68,000.  By 1935 the sales totaled an impressive, by not reckless $185,000.  Enid took over the position of president of the company in 1934 when Julius left her and their marriage ended in divorce.  She became the focal point of company publicity, and was always eager to travel throughout the country to promote her boots.  A 1939 promotion, held in conjunction with the Golden Gate Exposition in San Francisco, brought Nocona Boots publicity throughout the country.  Seventeen riders carrying mail (emulating the Pony Express in the nineteenth century) left Nocona on March 1, 1939, competing to see which one would arrive first in San Francisco.  Care was taken to ensure that the horses were not injured during the competition.  On March 24, Shannon Davidson of Matador, Texas, arrived first at the finish line and won 750 silver dollars in prize money offered by Enid.  Although an admirer of horses, Enid only rode once in her life, and in later years even refused to lead western parades on a buckboard.  The "Lady Boot Maker" also preferred to wear shoes, not boots.

Governmental restrictions placed on the boot industry during the Second World War prompted Enid to call for a national meeting between government officials and boot makers.  This meeting took place in St. Louis, where Enid and boot company representatives convinced officials that the stitching on boots was functional, not ornamental, and should be allowed.  The officials relented on this point.  During the war, Nocona Boot Company supplied boots for many American soldiers fighting overseas.  Enid noted that pilots were particularly fond of the boots.

With sales approaching half a million dollars by 1945, Enid seriously considered expanding the Nocona Boot facility.  Her original idea of adding on to the existing factory was dropped in favor of a new plant.  on a site nicknamed "Nocona's Boot Hill."  On July 27, 1947, ground was broken for the plant and on June 9, 1948, the new Nocona Boot Company factory opened.  The facility was spacious enough (30.000 square feet for the factory alone) that another expansion did not take place until 1972.

Promotions and publicity continued to fuel the growth of Nocona Boot Company sales.  In 1952 at the Governors' Conference in Houston, Nocona was chosen over all other Texas boot makers to prepare a pair of boots for each governor.  During the same year, Nocona Boot company was chosen to represent the Texas boot-making industry at a series of style shows on the French Riviera.

The Texas Week on the Riviera featured seven models from A. Harris and Company with more than 120 Texas fashion creations by 18 manufacturers.  Enid had provided specially designed, handmade boots for every model.  Although the fashion shows created favorable publicity for Nocona Boots overseas, it did nothing to change Enid's mind about extending the business internationally.  She believed the employees had more than they could handle to fill the demand for Nocona boots in North America.

In 1960 Nocona Boot Company introduced the Thin-Line Cushion Shank, which was applauded as a great innovation because it gave the boot-wearer a feeling of walking on air.  Other innovations during the next few years included the Seamless Saddle Side, the Flex-Line Sole, and the Needle Toe Cushion.  These advancements were credited to R. S. Lemon, the company's vice president and general manager.

Between 1969 and 1979 Nocona Boot Company experienced remarkable growth.  The operation's employees increased by 70.8%, production increased 180%, and its dealers by 45%.  Nocona Boot Company was now a multimillion-dollar enterprise, with plants in Nocona, Vernon, and Gainesville.  Miss Enid, however, could not physically continue the responsibility of running the business.  A stroke left her partially paralyzed and needing the assistance of a nurse.  In 1981 she reluctantly merged Nocona Boot Company with Justin Industries to keep the business in the family.  Although Enid remained president and chairman of the board of the company for a time, soon her health forced her to leave those duties and serve as a consultant.  On October 14, 1990, Enid Justin died in Nocona at the age of 96.  Nine years later, the Nocona boot plant was closed when Justin Industries announced plans to move all boot-making operation to existing plants in El Paso, Texas, and Casville, Missouri.

When asked to account for the success of Nocona Boot Company in an interview in 1981 for the University of North Texas business Oral History Project, Miss Enid had a quick response.  "Hard work and treating your fellow man right, making good boots.  I am no angel, but I have treated people right.  I get along with my competitors."  A few of those competitors have commented about Miss Justin, saying they have never known anyone as "honest and forthright," and praising her as a "wonderful person and a formidable business woman."  One friend perhaps said it best when she described Miss Enid as "a real character.  She is a self-made woman who knows her business backwards and forwards."  During the early years of the company, Miss Enid was often seen walking through Nocona each month collecting bills for repair work.  One hot August day she was asked why she continued to work in the extreme heat.  She replied, "I am willing to work in the sun while I am young, so that I can work in the shade when I am older."  Miss Enid never really got out of the sun, and for sixty years the Nocona Boot Company thrived because of it.