Justus Smith Stearns
Businessman
Died when: 87 years 310 days (1054 months)Star Sign: Aries
Justus Smith Stearns (April 10, 1845 – February 14, 1933) was an American lumber baron and businessman.He was involved in many enterprises that involved commercial real estate development, sawmills, coal, farming, railroading, and electrical technology.
He started his lumber pursuits as a teenager at his father's sawmills.From the business knowledge he learned from his father he became a lumber merchant in his twenties.
Stearns, as a dealer, was associated with his wealthy brother-in-law Eber Brock Ward as a vendor to lumberyard suppliers.Later in his thirties he moved to Michigan to manage Ward's lumber operations he had going there that at that time was inherited by Ward's widow.
He worked his way up in management responsibilities and eventually became general managing agent for Ward's extensive lumber empire.He then developed his own lumber operations in northern Michigan and became a lumber baron.
Stearns had large timber interests in the Pacific Northwest, Michigan, Wisconsin, Kentucky, and Florida and became known as the "Pine King." He was the major influence in the development of the towns of Ludington, Michigan, and Stearns, Kentucky.
