Carl G. Fisher - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Carl Graham Fisher was an American

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

Entrepreneur

An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...

. Despite having severe astigmatism

Astigmatism (eye)

Astigmatism is an optical defect in which vision is blurred due to the inability of the optics of the eye to focus a point object into a sharp focused image on the retina. This may be due to an irregular or toric curvature of the cornea or lens. There are two types of astigmatism: regular and...

, he became a seemingly tireless pioneer and promoter of the automotive, auto racing

Auto racing

Auto racing is a motorsport involving the racing of cars for competition. It is one of the world's most watched televised sports.-The beginning of racing:...

, and real estate

Real estate

In general use, esp. North American, 'real estate' is taken to mean "Property consisting of land and the buildings on it, along with its natural resources such as crops, minerals, or water; immovable property of this nature; an interest vested in this; an item of real property; buildings or...

development industries. He is widely regarded as a promotional genius.

Despite family financial strains and a disability, in the late 19th century he became a bicycle

Bicycle

A bicycle, also known as a bike, pushbike or cycle, is a human-powered, pedal-driven, single-track vehicle, having two wheels attached to a frame, one behind the other. A person who rides a bicycle is called a cyclist, or bicyclist....

enthusiast and opened a modest bicycle shop with a brother. An Indiana

Indiana

Indiana is a US state, admitted to the United States as the 19th on December 11, 1816. It is located in the Midwestern United States and Great Lakes Region. With 6,483,802 residents, the state is ranked 15th in population and 16th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38th in land area and is...

native, he also became involved in bicycle racing and later many activities related to the emerging U.S. auto industry in the early 20th century. In 1904, Carl Fisher and his friend James A. Allison

James A. Allison

James Ashbury Allison , born in Marcellus, Michigan, was an American entrepreneur and businessman. He was the inventor of the Allison Perfection Fountain Pen and with Carl G. Fisher a founder of Prest-O-Lite, a manufacturer of automobile headlights. With Carl G. Fisher, Frank H. Wheeler, and Arthur C...

bought an interest in the U.S. patent

Patent

A patent is a form of intellectual property. It consists of a set of exclusive rights granted by a sovereign state to an inventor or their assignee for a limited period of time in exchange for the public disclosure of an invention....

to manufacture acetylene

Acetylene

Acetylene is the chemical compound with the formula C2H2. It is a hydrocarbon and the simplest alkyne. This colorless gas is widely used as a fuel and a chemical building block. It is unstable in pure form and thus is usually handled as a solution.As an alkyne, acetylene is unsaturated because...

headlights, a precursor to electric models which became common about 10 years later. Soon Fisher's firm supplied nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the United States as manufacturing plants were built all over the country to supply the demand. The headlight patent made him rich as an automotive part

Auto part

This is a list of auto parts, which are manufactured components of automobiles:-Body and exterior:Body components, including windows and trim:-Engine cooling system:* Air blower* Coolant hose* Cooling fan* Fan blade* Fan clutch* Radiator...

s supplier and he and Allison cashed out when they sold their company, Prest-O-Lite, to Union Carbide in 1913 for $9,000,000.

Fisher operated what is believed to be the first automobile dealership in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

in Indianapolis

Indianapolis, Indiana

Indianapolis is the capital of the U.S. state of Indiana, and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana. As of the 2010 United States Census, the city's population is 839,489. It is by far Indiana's largest city and, as of the 2010 U.S...

, and also worked at developing an automobile racetrack locally. After being injured in stunts himself, and following a safety debacle at the new Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the Brickyard 400....

, of which he was a principal, he helped develop paved racetracks and public roadways. Improvements he implemented at the speedway led to its nickname "The Brickyard".

In 1913, Fisher conceived and helped develop the Lincoln Highway

Lincoln Highway

The Lincoln Highway was the first road across the United States of America.Conceived and promoted by entrepreneur Carl G. Fisher, the Lincoln Highway spanned coast-to-coast from Times Square in New York City to Lincoln Park in San Francisco, originally through 13 states: New York, New Jersey,...

, the first road for the automobile across the entire United States of America. A convoy trip a few years later by the U.S. Army along Fisher's Lincoln Highway was a major influence upon then Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight D. Eisenhower

Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower was the 34th President of the United States, from 1953 until 1961. He was a five-star general in the United States Army...

years later in championing the Interstate Highway System

Interstate Highway System

The Dwight D. Eisenhower National System of Interstate and Defense Highways, , is a network of limited-access roads including freeways, highways, and expressways forming part of the National Highway System of the United States of America...

during his presidency in the 1950s.

Carl Fisher followed the east-west Lincoln Highway in 1914 with the conception of the north-south Dixie Highway

Dixie Highway

The Dixie Highway was a United States automobile highway, first planned in 1914 to connect the US Midwest with the Southern United States. It was part of the National Auto Trail system, and grew out of an earlier Miami to Montreal highway. The final result is better understood as a small network of...

, which first led from Indianapolis

Indianapolis

, and eventually extended in several northern branches from the Mid-West U.S. at the Canadian borders to southern mainland Florida

Florida

Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...

. Under his leadership, the initial portion was completed within a single year, and he led an automobile caravan to Florida from Indiana

Indiana

.

At the south end of the Dixie Highway in Miami, Florida

Miami, Florida

Miami is a city located on the Atlantic coast in southeastern Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, the most populous county in Florida and the eighth-most populous county in the United States with a population of 2,500,625...

, Fisher became involved in the successful real estate

Real estate

development of the new resort city of Miami Beach

Miami Beach, Florida

Miami Beach is a coastal resort city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States, incorporated on March 26, 1915. The municipality is located on a barrier island between the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay, the latter which separates the Beach from Miami city proper...

, built on a largely unpopulated barrier island

Barrier island

Barrier islands, a coastal landform and a type of barrier system, are relatively narrow strips of sand that parallel the mainland coast. They usually occur in chains, consisting of anything from a few islands to more than a dozen...

and reached by the new Collins Bridge

Collins Bridge

The Collins Bridge was a bridge that crossed Biscayne Bay between Miami and Miami Beach, Florida. At the time it was completed, it was the longest wooden bridge in the world. It was built by farmer and developer John S. Collins with financial assistance from automotive parts and racing pioneer...

across Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay is a lagoon that is approximately 35 miles long and up to 8 miles wide located on the Atlantic coast of South Florida, United States. It is usually divided for purposes of discussion and analysis into three parts: North Bay, Central Bay, and South Bay. Its area is...

directly at the terminus of the Dixie Highway. Fisher was one of the best known and active promoters of the Florida land boom of the 1920s

Florida land boom of the 1920s

The Florida land boom of the 1920s was Florida's first real estate bubble, which burst in 1925, leaving behind entire new cities and the remains of failed development projects such as Aladdin City in south Miami-Dade County and Isola di Lolando in north Biscayne Bay...

. By 1926, he was worth an estimated $100 million, and redirected his promotional efforts when the Florida real estate market bubble burst after 1925. His final major project, cut short by the Great Depression

Great Depression

The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...

, was a "Miami Beach of the north" at Montauk

Montauk, New York

Montauk [ˈmɒntɒk] is a census-designated place that roughly corresponds to the hamlet with the same name located in the town of East Hampton in Suffolk County, New York, United States on the South Shore of Long Island. As of the United States 2000 Census, the CDP population was 3,851 as of 2000...

, located at the eastern tip of Long Island

Long Island

Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

.

His fortune was lost in the Stock Market Crash of 1929 and the Great Depression in the United States which followed shortly thereafter. He found himself living in a small cottage in Miami Beach, doing minor work for old friends. Nevertheless, years after his fortune had been lost, at the end of his career, he took on one more project, albeit more modest than many of his past ventures, and built the famous Caribbean Club

Caribbean Club

Caribbean Club on Key Largo, northernmost of the Florida Keys, was developed and built by auto parts and real estate promoter Carl Graham Fisher in 1938....

on Key Largo

Key Largo, Florida

Key Largo is a census-designated place in Monroe County, Florida, United States, located on the island of Key Largo in the upper Florida Keys. The population was 11,886 at the 2000 census. The name comes from the Spanish Cayo Largo, or "long key"...

, intended as a "poor man's retreat."

Although he had lost his fortune and late in life considered himself a failure, Fisher is widely regarded as a very successful man in the long view of his life. He was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame

Automotive Hall of Fame

The Automotive Hall of Fame is an American museum and hall of fame covering automotive innovations.-Location:Located in the metro Detroit suburb of Dearborn, Michigan, the museum shares a parking lot with The Henry Ford.-External links:*...

in 1971. In a 1998 study judged by a panel of 56 historians, writers, and others, Carl G. Fisher was named one of the 50 Most Influential People in the history of the State of Florida by The Ledger newspaper. PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

labeled him "Mr. Miami Beach." Just south of Miami Beach, Fisher Island

Fisher Island, Florida

Fisher Island is a neighborhood of metropolitan Miami, Florida, located on a barrier island of the same name. As of the 2000 census, Fisher Island had the highest per capita income of any place in the United States in 2000. The CDP had only 218 households and a total population of 467 persons...

(which he once owned, and is named for him), became one of the wealthiest and most exclusive residential areas in the United States.

Youth, disability, early career, bicycles

Carl Fisher was born in Greensburg, Indiana

Greensburg, Indiana

Greensburg is a city in Decatur County, Indiana, United States. The population was counted at 11,492 at the 2010 census. The city is the county seat of Decatur County....

, nine years after the end of the American Civil War

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, the son of Albert H. and Ida Graham Fisher. Apparently suffering from alcoholism

Alcoholism

Alcoholism is a broad term for problems with alcohol, and is generally used to mean compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcoholic beverages, usually to the detriment of the drinker's health, personal relationships, and social standing...

, a problem which would also plague Carl later in life, his father left the family when Fisher was a child. Suffering from severe astigmatism

Astigmatism (eye)

, it was difficult for Carl to pay attention in school, as uncorrected astigmatism can cause headaches or eyestrain, and blur vision at all distances. He quit school when he was twelve years old to help support his family.

For the next five years, Fisher held a number of jobs. He worked in a grocery and a bookstore, then later he sold newspaper

Newspaper

A newspaper is a scheduled publication containing news of current events, informative articles, diverse features and advertising. It usually is printed on relatively inexpensive, low-grade paper such as newsprint. By 2007, there were 6580 daily newspapers in the world selling 395 million copies a...

s, tobacco

Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product processed from the leaves of plants in the genus Nicotiana. It can be consumed, used as a pesticide and, in the form of nicotine tartrate, used in some medicines...

, candy, and other items on train

Train

A train is a connected series of vehicles for rail transport that move along a track to transport cargo or passengers from one place to another place. The track usually consists of two rails, but might also be a monorail or maglev guideway.Propulsion for the train is provided by a separate...

s departing Indianapolis

Indianapolis, Indiana

, a major railroad center not far from Greensburg. He opened a bicycle

Bicycle

repair shop in 1891 with his two brothers. A successful entrepreneur

Entrepreneur

, he expanded his business and became involved in bicycle racing

Bicycle racing

Bicycle racing is a competition sport in which various types of bicycles are used. There are several categories of bicycle racing including road bicycle racing, cyclo-cross, mountain bike racing, track cycling, BMX, bike trials, and cycle speedway. Bicycle racing is recognised as an Olympic sport...

and later, automobile racing. During his many promotional stunt

Stunt

A stunt is an unusual and difficult physical feat, or any act requiring a special skill, performed for artistic purposes in TV, theatre, or cinema...

s, he was frequently injured on the dirt and loose gravel roadways, leading him to become one of the early developers of automotive safety

Safety

Safety is the state of being "safe" , the condition of being protected against physical, social, spiritual, financial, political, emotional, occupational, psychological, educational or other types or consequences of failure, damage, error, accidents, harm or any other event which could be...

features. A highly publicized stunt involved dropping a bicycle from the roof of the tallest building in Indianapolis, which brought on a confrontation with the police.

Automobiles: parts and sales

In 1904, Carl Fisher was approached by the owner of a U.S. patent

Patent

to manufacture acetylene headlights. Soon Fisher's firm supplied nearly every headlamp used on automobiles in the United States as manufacturing plants were built all over the country to supply the demand. The headlight patent made him rich as an automotive part

Auto part

s supplier and led to friendships with notable auto magnates. Fisher made millions when he and partner James A. Allison

James A. Allison

sold their Prest-O-Lite automobile headlamp business to Union Carbide

Union Carbide

Union Carbide Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Dow Chemical Company. It currently employs more than 2,400 people. Union Carbide primarily produces chemicals and polymers that undergo one or more further conversions by customers before reaching consumers. Some are high-volume...

.

Fisher also entered the business of selling automobiles, with his friend Barney Oldfield

Barney Oldfield

Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield was an automobile racer and pioneer. He was born on a farm on the outskirts of Wauseon, Ohio. He was the first man to drive a car at 60 miles per hour on an oval...

. The Fisher Automobile Company

Fisher Automobile Company

Fisher Automobile Company in Indianapolis, Indiana, is believed to have been the first automobile dealership in the United States. It carried multiple models of Oldsmobiles, Reos, Packards, Stoddard-Daytons, Stutz and others....

in Indianapolis

Indianapolis

is considered most likely the first automobile dealership in the United States. It carried multiple models of Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile

Oldsmobile was a brand of American automobile produced for most of its existence by General Motors. It was founded by Ransom E. Olds in 1897. In its 107-year history, it produced 35.2 million cars, including at least 14 million built at its Lansing, Michigan factory...

, Reo

REO Motor Car Company

The REO Motor Car Company was a Lansing, Michigan based company that produced automobiles and trucks from 1905 to 1975. At one point the company also manufactured buses on its truck platforms.REO was initiated by Ransom E. Olds during August 1904...

, Packard

Packard

Packard was an American luxury-type automobile marque built by the Packard Motor Car Company of Detroit, Michigan, and later by the Studebaker-Packard Corporation of South Bend, Indiana...

, Stoddard-Dayton

Stoddard-Dayton

Stoddard-Dayton was a high quality car manufactured by Dayton Motor Car Company in Dayton, Ohio, USA, between 1905 and 1913. John W. Stoddard and his son Charles G...

, Stutz

Stutz

Stutz may refer to:*Harry C. Stutz , American automobile pioneer and manufacturer of luxury cars and fire engines*Josef Stutz , Swiss Conservative politician*Stutz Motor Company, American luxury cars producer...

, and others. Fisher staged an elaborate publicity stunt in which he attached a hot air balloon to a white Stoddard-Dayton automobile and flew the car over downtown Indianapolis. Thousands of people observed the spectacle and Fisher triumphantly drove back into town, becoming an instant media sensation. Unbeknown to the public, the flying car had its engine removed to lighten the load, and several identical cars were driven out to meet it, to allow Fisher to drive back into the city. Afterwards, he advertised, "The Stoddard-Dayton was the first automobile to fly over Indianapolis. It should be your first automobile too." Another stunt involved pushing a car off the roof of a building and then driving it away, to demonstrate its durability.

Marriage, Indianapolis estate

In 1909 Fisher married a young woman while he was engaged to another. Fisher's previous fiancée sued him for a breach of promise

Breach of promise

Breach of promise is a former common law tort.From at least medieval times until the early 20th century, a man's promise of engagement to marry a woman was considered, in many jurisdictions, a legally binding contract...

. Meanwhile, he and his new wife Jane went on a business trip for their honeymoon. The couple had no children, and were divorced in 1926.

"Blossom Heath" was Fisher's estate in Indianapolis. Completed in 1913, it was built on Cold Springs Road between the estates of his two friends and Indianapolis Motor Speedway partners, James A. Allison

James A. Allison

and Frank H. Wheeler. The house included portions of an earlier house on the site and featured a 60-foot-long living room with a 6-foot-wide fireplace where logs burned all day. There were twelve bedrooms and a huge glass-enclosed sun porch. Fisher built a house for his mother on the southern part of the estate. The estate also included a five-car garage, an indoor swimming pool, a polo course, a stable, an indoor tennis court and gymnasium, a greenhouse, and extensive gardens. A newspaper article dated February 2, 1913 described the simple dignity of the house. Unlike some of his friends and neighbors, Fisher built a large but simple house decorated primarily in yellow, his favorite color. It did not contain exotic woodwork, elaborate carvings, or extensive decoration.

In 1928, after Fisher moved permanently to Miami Beach, the Fisher Estate in Indianapolis was leased and later purchased by the Park School for Boys. The Fisher mansion was damaged by fire in the 1950s and the rear portion of the house was demolished and replaced with a classroom wing during 1956–57. The property was sold to Marian College in the 1960s and combined with two nearby estates into one 110 acre (0.4451546 km²) campus. Today the Fisher house (Fisher Hall), garage (Kavanaugh Hall), pool house (Art Annex), stable (Padua Hall), Mrs. Fisher’s cottage (Civic Theatre Offices), and a small outbuilding remain on the Marian College campus.

Auto racing: the "Brickyard"

In 1909, Fisher joined a group of Indianapolis

Indianapolis

businessmen in a new project. He, Arthur C. Newby (president of National), Frank H. Wheeler (maker of the Wheeler-Schebler carburetor

Carburetor

A carburetor , carburettor, or carburetter is a device that blends air and fuel for an internal combustion engine. It is sometimes shortened to carb in North America and the United Kingdom....

), and James A. Allison

James A. Allison

(partner in Prest-O-Lite) invested in what became Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Indianapolis Motor Speedway

The Indianapolis Motor Speedway, located in Speedway, Indiana in the United States, is the home of the Indianapolis 500-Mile Race and the Brickyard 400....

, which is now surrounded by the city of Indianapolis. The first automobile race in August 1909 ended in disaster. The loose rock track led to numerous crashes, fires, terrible injuries to race car drivers and spectators, and deaths. The race was halted and canceled when only halfway completed

Undeterred, Fisher convinced the investors to install 3.2 million paving bricks, leading to the famous nickname "the brickyard". (This persists, even though it has since been resurfaced.) The Speedway reopened and, on Memorial Day

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a United States federal holiday observed on the last Monday of May. Formerly known as Decoration Day, it originated after the American Civil War to commemorate the fallen Union soldiers of the Civil War...

, May 30, 1911, 80,000 paying spectators at $1 admission (and many thousands more unpaid in overlooking buildings and trees) watched the 500 mile (800 km) event, the first in a long line of races known as the Indianapolis 500

Indianapolis 500

The Indianapolis 500-Mile Race, also known as the Indianapolis 500, the 500 Miles at Indianapolis, the Indy 500 or The 500, is an American automobile race, held annually, typically on the last weekend in May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in Speedway, Indiana...

The Lincoln Highway

In 1913, foreseeing the automobile's impact on American life, Carl Fisher conceived and was instrumental in the planning, development, and construction of the Lincoln Highway

Lincoln Highway

, the first road across America, which connected New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

to San Francisco

San Francisco, California

San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...

. Fisher estimated the highway, an improved, hard-surfaced road stretching almost 3,400 miles (5,472 km), would cost ten million dollars

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

. Fellow industrialists Frank Seiberling

Frank Seiberling

Franklin Augustus Seiberling was an American inventor and founder. He is most famous for founding the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company and the Seiberling Rubber Company...

and Henry Bourne Joy

Henry Bourne Joy

Henry Bourne Joy was President of the Packard Motor Car Company, and a major developer of automotive activities as well as being a social activist....

helped Fisher with their promotional skills, together creating the Lincoln Highway Association. Much of the highway was paid for by contributions from automobile manufacturers and suppliers, a policy bitterly opposed by Henry Ford

Henry Ford

Henry Ford was an American industrialist, the founder of the Ford Motor Company, and sponsor of the development of the assembly line technique of mass production. His introduction of the Model T automobile revolutionized transportation and American industry...

.

Former U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore Roosevelt

Theodore "Teddy" Roosevelt was the 26th President of the United States . He is noted for his exuberant personality, range of interests and achievements, and his leadership of the Progressive Movement, as well as his "cowboy" persona and robust masculinity...

and Thomas A. Edison, both friends of Fisher, sent checks, as well as the current President Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson

Thomas Woodrow Wilson was the 28th President of the United States, from 1913 to 1921. A leader of the Progressive Movement, he served as President of Princeton University from 1902 to 1910, and then as the Governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913...

, who has been noted as the first U.S. President to make frequent-use of an automobile for what was described as stress-relief relaxation rides.

In 1919, as World War I

World War I

World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...

was ending, the U.S. Army undertook its first transcontinental motor convoy along the Lincoln Highway. One of the young Army officers was Dwight David Eisenhower, then a Lt. Colonel, who credited the experience when supporting construction of the Interstate Highway System

Interstate Highway System

when he became President of the United States in 1952.

The Dixie Highway

Carl Fisher next turned his attention to creating the Dixie Highway

Dixie Highway

, a network of north-south routes extending from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan

Upper Peninsula of Michigan

The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is the northern of the two major land masses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan. It is commonly referred to as the Upper Peninsula, the U.P., or Upper Michigan. It is also known as the land "above the Bridge" linking the two peninsulas. The peninsula is bounded...

to southern Florida

Florida

, which he felt would provide an ideal way for residents of his home state to vacation in southern Florida. In September 1916, Fisher and Indiana Governor

Governor of Indiana

The Governor of Indiana is the chief executive of the state of Indiana. The governor is elected to a four-year term, and responsible for overseeing the day-to-day management of the functions of many agencies of the Indiana state government. The governor also shares power with other statewide...

Samuel M. Ralston

Samuel Moffett Ralston was Democratic politician, the 28th Governor of and a United States Senator from the U.S. state of Indiana. Born into a large impoverished family, he took many jobs as a child including working in a coal mine...

attended a celebration opening the roadway from Indianapolis to Miami

Miami, Florida

Miami Beach

The future City of Miami Beach

Miami Beach, Florida

became Fisher's next big project. On a vacation to Miami around 1910, he saw potential in the swampy, bug-infested stretch of land between Miami and the ocean, and in his mind transformed the 3,500 acres (14 km²) of mangrove

Mangrove

Mangroves are various kinds of trees up to medium height and shrubs that grow in saline coastal sediment habitats in the tropics and subtropics – mainly between latitudes N and S...

swamp and beach into the perfect vacation destination for his automobile industry friends—he called it "Miami Beach". He and his wife bought a vacation home there in 1912 and he began acquiring land.

The Collins Bridge

Collins Bridge

across Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay

between Miami and the barrier island

Barrier island

that became Miami Beach was built by John S. Collins

John S. Collins

John Stiles Collins was an American Quaker farmer from Moorestown Township, New Jersey who moved to southern Florida and attempted to grow vegetables and coconuts on the swampy, bug-infested stretch of land between Miami and the ocean, a barrier island which became Miami Beach.Although the farming...

(1837–1928), an earlier farmer and developer originally from New Jersey

New Jersey

New Jersey is a state in the Northeastern and Middle Atlantic regions of the United States. , its population was 8,791,894. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York, on the southeast and south by the Atlantic Ocean, on the west by Pennsylvania and on the southwest by Delaware...

. Collins, then 75 years old, had run out of money before he could complete his bridge. Fisher loaned him the money in trade for 200 acres (0.8 km²) of land. The new 2½ mile (4 km) wooden toll bridge

Toll bridge

A toll bridge is a bridge over which traffic may pass upon payment of a toll, or fee.- History :The practice of collecting tolls on bridges probably harks back to the days of ferry crossings where people paid a fee to be ferried across stretches of water. As boats became impractical to carry large...

opened on June 12, 1913.

The bridge replaced an old ferry

Ferry

A ferry is a form of transportation, usually a boat, but sometimes a ship, used to carry primarily passengers, and sometimes vehicles and cargo as well, across a body of water. Most ferries operate on regular, frequent, return services...

service and connected Miami Beach and the mainland, providing a critical link between the established city of Miami

Miami, Florida

and the new town. The Collins Bridge was awarded the title of being "longest wooden bridge in the world."

Fisher financed the dredging of Biscayne Bay

Biscayne Bay

to create its vast residential islands. He later built several landmark luxury hotel

Hotel

A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. The provision of basic accommodation, in times past, consisting only of a room with a bed, a cupboard, a small table and a washstand has largely been replaced by rooms with modern facilities, including en-suite bathrooms...

s including the famous Flamingo Hotel

Flamingo Hotel, Miami Beach

The Flamingo Hotel overlooked Biscayne Bay on the west side of the newly formed city of Miami Beach, Florida until the 1950s, when it was torn down to make room for the new Morton Towers development, which is now known as the Flamingo South Beach....

and attracted the wealthy and celebrated to visit the community, several of whom took up permanent residence there.

Although a dedicated enthusiast of automobile travel, Fisher was aware that wealthy vacationers in those days often preferred to cross the long distances to southeastern Florida by railroad, a tradition begun by some families years earlier with Henry M. Flagler's Florida East Coast Railway

Florida East Coast Railway

The Florida East Coast Railway is a Class II railroad operating in the U.S. state of Florida; in the past, it has been a Class I railroad.Built primarily in the last quarter of the 19th century and the first decade of the 20th century, the FEC was a project of Standard Oil principal Henry Morrison...

(FEC) and the resorts he established at places like St. Augustine

St. Augustine, Florida

St. Augustine is a city in the northeast section of Florida and the county seat of St. Johns County, Florida, United States. Founded in 1565 by Spanish explorer and admiral Pedro Menéndez de Avilés, it is the oldest continuously occupied European-established city and port in the continental United...

and Palm Beach

Palm Beach, Florida

The Town of Palm Beach is an incorporated town in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The Intracoastal Waterway separates it from the neighboring cities of West Palm Beach and Lake Worth...

, and eventually Miami, the southern terminus of the FEC, where he built the famous Royal Palm Hotel

Royal Palm Hotel

Royal Palm Hotel has been the name of several hotels, including:*Royal Palm Hotel , an early 20th-century luxury hotel*Royal Palm Building , a Registered Historic Place...

.

In developing Miami Beach's potential for resort hotels, Fisher needed a transportation connection the 5 miles (8 km) from the FEC railroad station in Miami.

The solution he developed was the Miami Beach Railway, an electric street railway system which served the additional purpose of providing electric service. He and other investors formed the Miami Beach Electric Company and the Miami Beach Railway Co. It began service on December 14, 1920 and ran from downtown Miami, where it shared tracks with Miami's own trolley system, to the County Causeway (renamed MacArthur Causeway

MacArthur Causeway

The General Douglas MacArthur Causeway is a six-lane causeway which connects Downtown, Miami, Florida and South Beach, Miami Beach via Biscayne Bay....

after World War II). After crossing Biscayne Bay to Miami Beach, the tracks looped around the section of Miami Beach south of 47th Street. Around 1926, Florida Power and Light acquired Fisher's streetcar system, and expanded it, double tracking the line across the causeway. However, while sale of electric service was a growth industry across the United States, the street railway portion went into a period of decline, along with the entire industry. All rail service between Miami and Miami Beach was terminated on October 17, 1939.

However, even with the new street railway connecting with the FEC, while wealthy people came to vacation, only a few were buying land or building homes. The U.S. public was apparently slow to catch on to the vacation land and homes Fisher envisioned for Florida. His investments in Miami Beach were not paying off, at least not until he again utilized his promotional skills which had worked so well years earlier in Indiana.

Ever the innovative promoter, Fisher seemed tireless in his efforts to draw attention to Miami Beach, a story recounted by PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

. Fisher had acquired a baby elephant named "Rosie"

Rosie the Elephant

Rosie, an Asian elephant, was an instrumental figure in the history of the U.S. city of Miami Beach, Florida. Her appearance in publicity photos helped to contribute to the area's early reputation for being a place that a visitor had to see to believe....

who was a favorite with newspaper

Newspaper

photographers. In 1921, he got free publicity all across the country with what we would call today a promotional "photo-op" of Rosie serving as a 'golf caddy'

Caddy

In golf, a caddy is the person who carries a player's bag and clubs, and gives insightful advice and moral support. A good caddy is aware of the challenges and obstacles of the golf course being played, along with the best strategy in playing it. This includes knowing overall yardage, pin...

for vacationing President-elect Warren Harding. Billboards of bathing beauties enjoying white beaches and blue ocean waters appeared around the country. Fisher even purchased a huge illuminated sign proclaiming "It's June in Miami" in Times Square

Times Square

Times Square is a major commercial intersection in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, at the junction of Broadway and Seventh Avenue and stretching from West 42nd to West 47th Streets...

.

During the Florida land boom of the 1920s

Florida land boom of the 1920s

, real estate sales took off as Americans discovered their automobiles and the paved Dixie Highway, which through no coincidence led to the foot of the Collins Bridge. There were less than 1,000 year-round residents of Miami Beach in 1920. In the next five years, the resident population of the Miami Beach area grew 440%. People from all over the country flocked to South Florida in hopes of getting rich buying and selling real estate. They sent home tales of riches being made when orange groves and swamp lands were subdivided, sold, and developed.

The art of the swap, which helped fund the Collins Bridge, was apparently the source of great satisfaction to Fisher. He had bought another 200 acres (0.8 km²) that now form Fisher Island

Fisher Island, Florida

from Dana A. Dorsey

Dana A. Dorsey

Dana Albert "D. A." Dorsey was a businessman, banker, and philanthropist who became one of the first African American millionaires in Florida and the American South.- Childhood, education :...

, South Florida's first African American

African American

African Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...

millionaire, and had begun some development there in 1919. Six years later, in 1925, he traded Fisher Island to William Kissam Vanderbilt II

William Kissam Vanderbilt II

William Kissam Vanderbilt II was a motor racing enthusiast and yachtsman and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family.-Biography:...

of the famous and wealthy Vanderbilt family in exchange for a 250 feet (76.2 m) yacht. Vanderbilt used the property to create an enclave even more luxurious and exclusive than many of Miami Beach's finest.

By 1926, Fisher was worth an estimated $100 million, and could have been financially secure for life. However, he was always known for moving from project to project, and success had never stopped him from attempting something new. In her 1947 book, his ex-wife Jane Watts Fisher quoted him as replying, when she had hoped that he would slow down at some point, "I don't have time to take time." Instead, he redirected his promotional efforts to yet another new project far to the north.

Montauk, Long Island

In 1926, Fisher began working on a "Miami Beach of the north". His project at Montauk

Montauk, New York

at the eastern tip of Long Island

Long Island

in New York

New York

was to provide a warm season counterpart to the Florida development. He and four associates purchased 9,000 acres (36 km²) and built a luxurious hotel, office building, marina, and attractions. The project built roads, planted nurseries, laid water pipes and built houses. He built Montauk Manor

Montauk Manor

Montauk Manor is a historic resort hotel located at Montauk in Suffolk County, New York. It was built in 1926 by Carl G. Fisher and is a three story, 200 room hotel in the Tudor Revival style...

, which still exists as a luxury resort today (pictured at right). He also built the Montauk Tennis Auditorium

Montauk Tennis Auditorium

Montauk Tennis Auditorium, also known as Montauk Playhouse, is a historic tennis center located at Montauk in Suffolk County, New York, just below Montauk Manor. It was built in 1928-1929 as one of the central buildings of the great resort which developer Carl G. Fisher planned and partially...

.

However, after the real estate boom became a land "bust" in Florida around 1925, followed by a devastating hurricane in September 1926

1926 Miami Hurricane

The 1926 Miami hurricane was a Category 4 hurricane that devastated Miami in September 1926. The storm also caused significant damage in the Florida Panhandle, the U.S. state of Alabama, and the Bahamas...

which wiped out much of Miami Beach, tourism dropped off severely and Fisher's investments there were hit hard. His financing for the Montauk venture was dependent upon income from the Miami properties. Then, the Stock Market Crash of 1929 struck, followed by the Great Depression

Great Depression

. The Montauk "Miami Beach of the north" project went into receivership in 1932.

Decline, final project: a poor man's retreat

The losses in his real estate ventures and the Crash of 1929 left Fisher virtually penniless. Always a man whose lifeblood seemed to be new dreams and projects, by the mid 1930s, he was living in a small cottage on Miami Beach and received a US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

500 per month salary from his former partners to do promotional work.

Shortly before his death, as what turned out to be his last project, Fisher developed and built Key Largo's

Key Largo, Florida

Caribbean Club

Caribbean Club on Key Largo, northernmost of the Florida Keys, was developed and built by auto parts and real estate promoter Carl Graham Fisher in 1938....

, a fishing

Fishing

Fishing is the activity of trying to catch wild fish. Fish are normally caught in the wild. Techniques for catching fish include hand gathering, spearing, netting, angling and trapping....

club for men of modest means, "a poor man's retreat." Ever the promoter, Fisher would probably have appreciated the value of the publicity as, about 8 years after his death, the Caribbean Club became famous as the filming site for the 1947 film "Key Largo"

Key Largo (film)

Key Largo is a 1948 film noir directed by John Huston and starring Humphrey Bogart, Edward G. Robinson, Lauren Bacall, Lionel Barrymore, and Claire Trevor...

starring Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey Bogart

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was an American actor. He is widely regarded as a cultural icon.The American Film Institute ranked Bogart as the greatest male star in the history of American cinema....

and Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall

Lauren Bacall is an American film and stage actress and model, known for her distinctive husky voice and sultry looks.She first emerged as leading lady in the Humphrey Bogart film To Have And Have Not and continued on in the film noir genre, with appearances in The Big Sleep and Dark Passage ,...

. Almost 60 years later, in 2007, filled with Bogart memorabilia, it is still in business as a tourist attraction.

Carl G. Fisher died July 15, 1939 at age 65 of a stomach hemorrhage in a Miami Beach hospital, following a lengthy illness compounded by alcoholism

Alcoholism

. His pall bearers included Barney Oldfield

Barney Oldfield

Berna Eli "Barney" Oldfield was an automobile racer and pioneer. He was born on a farm on the outskirts of Wauseon, Ohio. He was the first man to drive a car at 60 miles per hour on an oval...

, William Vanderbilt

William Kissam Vanderbilt II

William Kissam Vanderbilt II was a motor racing enthusiast and yachtsman and a member of the prominent United States Vanderbilt family.-Biography:...

, and Gar Wood. He was interred at the family mausoleum at Crown Hill Cemetery in Indianapolis.

Legacy

Will Rogers

William "Will" Penn Adair Rogers was an American cowboy, comedian, humorist, social commentator, vaudeville performer, film actor, and one of the world's best-known celebrities in the 1920s and 1930s....

remembered Fisher as a Florida pioneer with these wry words:

"Fisher was the first man to discover that there was sand under the water...[sand] that could hold up a real estate sign. He made the dredge the national emblem of Florida."

Howard Kleinburg, an author and Miami Beach historian described Fisher:

"If you look at Fisher's entire life, it's a marathon. It's a race. It was a race to achieve the top of whatever field he was in at the time. Everything he did he went into it with his heart, his soul, his money, and he would not stop until he reached the end. He wanted to be there the quickest and first..."

In 1947, Jane Fisher, his ex-wife (who married him in 1909 and was divorced in 1926), wrote a book about his life. Fabulous Hoosier was published by R.M. McBride and Co. She wrote:

"He was all speed. I don't believe he ever thought in terms of money. He made millions, but they were incidental. He often said, 'I just like to see the dirt fly.'"

In 1971, Carl Graham Fisher was inducted into the Automotive Hall of Fame

Automotive Hall of Fame

.

In 1998, PBS

Public Broadcasting Service

produced a program about Fisher titled Mr. Miami Beach a part of the American Experience series.

Carl Fisher's legacies include promotion and distribution of an early form of headlights for motor vehicles in the U.S. auto industry, his early automobile dealership, the Indianapolis 500, and a national system of paved highway

Highway

A highway is any public road. In American English, the term is common and almost always designates major roads. In British English, the term designates any road open to the public. Any interconnected set of highways can be variously referred to as a "highway system", a "highway network", or a...

s in the United States which followed the trends established by the National Auto Trail

National auto trail

The system of auto trails was an informal network of marked routes that existed in the United States and Canada in the early part of the 20th century. Marked with colored bands on telephone poles, the trails were intended to help travellers in the early days of the automobile.Auto trails were...

s and the transcontinental east-west Lincoln Highway and the north-south Dixie Highway. He has also a school in Speedway named for him titled Carl G. Fisher Elementary School.

In modern times, Montauk (with the huge Tudor-style hotel he built now a condominium project) remains a small but popular tourist destination. The Miami Beach area has some of the most valuable real estate in the world, home of the revitalized South Beach

South Beach

South Beach, also nicknamed SoBe, is a neighborhood in the city of Miami Beach, Florida, United States. It is the area south of Indian Creek and encompasses roughly the southernmost 23 blocks of the main barrier island that separates the Atlantic Ocean and Biscayne Bay.This area was the first...

area with its restored art deco buildings and Fisher Island at the southern tip. And, at Speedway, Indiana

Speedway, Indiana

Speedway is a town in Wayne Township, Marion County, Indiana, United States. The population was 12,881 at the 2000 census. Speedway is the home of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, from which the town derives its name, and is a complete enclave of Indianapolis....

, just outside Indianapolis, each Memorial Day, the race cars still pound the famed "brickyard" at the Indianapolis 500.

Today, Fisher's life story may also be regarded as an inspiration and source of hope and resourcefulness for persons with disabilities

Disability

A disability may be physical, cognitive, mental, sensory, emotional, developmental or some combination of these.Many people would rather be referred to as a person with a disability instead of handicapped...

Books

Clymer, Floyd. Treasury of Early American Automobiles, 1877–1925 New York: Bonanza Books, 1950
Fisher, Jane. Fabulous Hoosier New York, New York: R.M. McBride and Co., 1947
Fisher, Jerry M. The Pacesetter: The Untold Story of Carl G. Fisher Ft. Bragg, California: Lost Coast Press, 1998
Foster, Mark S. Castles in the Sand: The Life and Times of Carl Graham Fisher. Gainesville, Florida: University press of Florida, 2000
Lummus, J. N. The Miracle of Miami Beach. (Self published);(Miami, Florida), 1944
Nolan, David. Fifty Feet in Paradise: The Booming of Florida. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984.

Internet

External links

Miami Beach USA Carl Fisher's Miami Beach Railway article with photos.
1923 map of the Dixie Highway system
Indianapolis Motor Speedway official website

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.