William Randolph Hearst, who inherited his father’s newspaper, the San Francisco Examiner in 1887, was nicknamed “Billy Buster” by his parents George and Phoebe Hearst. The name inspired Hearst’s co-worker Richard Outcaul to create a comic strip featuring Billy Buster, a boy with similar traits to Hearst. After Outcault sold an advertising license for the character to George Warren Brown of Brown Shoe Company in St. Louis, Brown’s portrayal of the Buster Brown character took hold, and Buster Brown became a household name in the early 1900s. The success of Buster Brown in the shoe industry and other marketing avenues was long lived, and families coast to coast recognized the name for nearly a century. It’s thought that the term’s widespread popularity may be linked to the name given to a site near Howards Ridge where today’s J Highway crosses Lick Creek.