The seven Fisher brothers played a critical role in the development of General Motors and the auto industry at large. Here’s their story.
There were seven Fisher brothers in all: Frederick, Charles, William, Lawrence, Edward, Alfred, and Howard, sons of a Norwalk, Ohio carriage maker. In their early 20s, the two oldest brothers, Charles and Fred, took their woodworking skills to Detroit, and they founded the Fisher Body Company in 1908 with financial backing from their uncle Albert Fisher, a successful wagon maker himself who had come to Detroit some years earlier. As the Detroit car industry blossomed, so did Fisher Body and by 1916, the company was producing more than 350,000 auto bodies per year.
In 1919 the Fishers formed an alliance with General Motors, with the automaker taking a 60 percent share of Fisher, later increased to 100 percent. Bodies were a critical element in auto manufacturing, and in a few years Fisher Body was a major portion of the GM enterprise and the brothers had key roles in the corporation’s management and executive board.
While the Fisher brothers largely avoided the limelight, they had a lasting impact on General Motors, the Detroit area, and the auto industry at large. This great little video, written and produced by Darren LaShelle of WGTE Public Television in Toledo, tells the story.
Great video! It should be required viewing for anyone with the slightest interest in automotive and/or Detroit history.
Great piece of automotive history.The Fisher brothers sure impacted my family in Detroit.Hired my grandfather a carriage builder by trade. My father retired from Fisher Body after 27 years.
In my many decades I had been curious about the Fisher Brothers. Eventually I found that they were seven brothers, had sisters (didn’t know how many, nor order of birth), and some mention of their uncle. This history you have provided filled in all the blanks, and then some! Thank you for the service, education, and entertainment you continually share.
The values of life were really great in prior generations verses todays. The personell interests in people & respect for safety & quality made cars right here in our country by our citizens. What a difference today where greed & cheap materials have caused our once great products to move & be manufactured overseas which I feel should have never been allowed. This has brought many professionally experienced workers to be unemployed & now we have many of our products that are made with lower standards by people in some of those areas hate American people, Respect,quality & greed has ruined our once great country!