The Lady Makes Boots: Enid Justin & the Nocona Boot Company by Carol A. Lipscomb

Abstract

Reviewed by: The Lady Makes Boots: Enid Justin & the Nocona Boot Company by Carol A. Lipscomb Tracey Hanshew The Lady Makes Boots: Enid Justin & the Nocona Boot Company. By Carol A. Lipscomb. (Lubbock: Texas Tech University Press, 2021. Pp. 252. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index.) Boots are among the most recognized icons of Texas—in company with the lone star and the longhorn. Carol A. Lipscomb's biography of Enid Justin places one of the more instrumental leaders in the boot industry into the historical record. Justin was heavily influenced by her father, "Daddy Joe," who began his boot making business in Spanish Fort, Texas, under the name "H. J. Justin, Boot Maker" (4, 9). In 1889, he moved his family to Nocona, Texas, which began a close relationship between the Justin boot business and the town of Nocona; more importantly, it deeply established Enid's roots there in both the town and the business. This relationship would become the bedrock that saw Enid through heartbreak and contributed to her success. In 1925, when she began her own boot company, Nocona, she was an anomaly in a world of companies owned by men. Through her success, however, she "set an example for women entrepreneurs who came after her" (159). Lipscomb explains both Enid Justin's connection and commitment to her childhood community and her important contributions to Texas history, revealing her determination through the hardships of losing a child, divorcing twice, and maintaining dedication to the business in the face of such loss. At a time when women rarely worked around hypermasculine [End Page 602] cowboys and oil field workers, and knowing that some "would not do business with a company run by a woman," Enid did not let this stop her (36). When asked about her participation in the women's liberation movement, she replied "I was a libber before the word and the definition were invented" (159). Enid Justin's contentious relationship with her siblings, who managed the Justin Boot company they had inherited from their father, promoted to some degree both the Justin and the Nocona company through a series of misprints in various newspapers. But it also increased her resolve to succeed with her own company, which she built from the ground up to be competitive with big-name companies like Justin, Lucchese, Tony Lama and others. That the 80th Texas Legislature designated the cowboy boot as the "official State Footwear of Texas" in the early 2000s is due in part to the presence of these nationally known companies, including hers (201). Among the ample use of Enid's own words, like the personal quotations that begin each chapter, the one that most encapsulates Enid is, "I've been blessed to have been in this business with these people right here in Nocona, Texas. What more could I have asked for?" (179) Carol Lipscomb's account of Enid Justin's life reveals how one woman made history and earned her place among the "greats" in Texas. That her name, Justin, is synonymous with Fort Worth, and that Nocona boots maintained the label of the "best boots in the world" for years, speaks not only to her commercial success but also to her leadership and business management. This biography is long overdue and is a significant contributor to the history of the economic and cultural development of Texas. Lipscomb successfully weaves Enid Justin's life through its historical context so that even those unfamiliar with it can appreciate the importance of women's history as much as Texas history. Tracey Hanshew Eastern Oregon University Copyright © 2022 The Texas State Historical Association