Earlier in the day, gathering clouds threatened rain, however the evening yielded clear and sunny skies. Buffalo Vanexial heating/cooling vents gleamed in the evening sun, as gravel on the roof crunched while setting up equipment. A view of the New Center area made for a nice backdrop to Fisher 21′s BINK’s machine.
Fred and Charles Fisher started the Fisher 21Body Plant in 1908. The company became a corporation in 1916 and built bodies for an expanded client list of companies such as Abbot, Buick, Cadillac, Chalmers, Chandler, Chevrolet, Churchfield, Elmore, EMF, Ford, Herreshoff, Hudson, Krit, Oldsmobile, Packard, Regal, and Studebaker. Fisher bodies soon became the industry standard.
In 1919 the Fisher 21 Plant was built in the heart of the Milwaukee Junction. The six story plant was built with reinforced concrete after Albert Kahn’s designs similar to Packard Motors and Ford’s Highland Park Plant. Fisher 21 built car bodies for Buick and Cadillac from1919-1925.
After Buick moved to Flint Fisher 21 continued to produce bodies for Cadillac. In 1956 the plant started producing Cadillac limousine bodies until 1974. Fisher was dissolved when it merged with other General Motors operations in 1984. The last tenant was Carter Color till the mid 1990’s.
References
A52-3, A58-2, A58-3 Archives
