Of all of the legendary names who were instrumental in building Atlanta into one of the nation’s premiere metropolitan regions, the name Carl G. Fisher is not one of them…but perhaps it should be. One could make the case that without the motivation supplied by Mr. Fisher, Atlanta would not be the city that it is today.
Carl Fisher isn’t usually listed in history books about Atlanta’s storied past for one very good reason. . . he wasn’t an Atlantan. But his actions were, in large part, the reason that today we are able to have Ponce City Market. It was Carl Fisher who set in motion the events that led General Motors to locate a factory in Atlanta. When the Davison-Paxon’s department store chain located its home offices in our city, Carl Fisher had a hand in that move.
In fact, Atlanta might never have become the business mecca that it became had Carl Fisher not been the world’s best at selling swamp land. Sound confusing? We clear it all up in this week’s Stories of Atlanta.
Interesting. I knew the Miami connection as I lived there. Evidenlty Carl was not one of the Fisher brothers who founded Fisher Body which became part of GM as I don’t see his name mentioned on Wikipedia. But yet Carl brought GM plant to Atlanta. Anyone know more?
Steve – Carl Fisher didn’t actually bring any of the businesses to Atlanta. They decided to locate in Atlanta as a result of Atlanta’s ad campaign which was motivated by concerns that Miami was “stealing” Atlanta’s thunder. Fisher, as a highly successful real estate salesman, started the land boom in Florida that so concerned Atlantans. I’ve not seen anything that associated Carl Fisher with Fisher Body but he was a fan of racing. He was an avid bicycle rider and then gravitated to automobiles when he felt the need for more speed. Fisher was originally from Indianapolis and I believe that he is responsible for paving the Indianapolis racetrack with bricks, which resulted in its nickname “The Brickyard.” Thanks for watching our story, we appreciate your taking the time to have a look. – Lance
Thank you for your clarification about Fisher and GM factory. I had not a clue as to the “brickyard”.