Justin’s grandfather, Herman, moved to Spanish Fort, Texas on the Chisholm Trail in 1879. He started repairing and eventually began making boots. He moved the operation to Fort Worth where John Justin eventually took over the reins of the company and built it into a worldwide empire of not only boot manufacturing but also brick making, book publishing, and a wide variety of other interests. Justin and his family were generous to Fort Worth and especially the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo which Justin headed for a number of years.