Carl Graham Fisher was born about six miles from where I grew up in the town of Greensburg, Indiana.  That’s where the tree grows out of the courthouse tower.  He didn’t have anything to do with that as far as I know but he sure had his finger on the pulse of a lot of other things which I am about to divulge to you.
   
   image via wikipedia

I never knew Carl Fisher.  I was only two years old when he died.  In fact, I never heard of him until I was an adult and had moved away from home.  You see, Carl was the product of a broken home–a rarity in my home county–something that wasn’t spoken of.  He could not see well and as a result he did poorly in school.  He quit when he was 12 years old in order to help support his mother.  Five years later he struck out for the big city and a career as an entrepreneur which would earn him millions.

At the age of 17 he and two of his brothers opened a bicycle shop in Indianapolis where he promptly ran afoul of the law by testing the durability of a bike by dropping it off the tallest building in the city.  He drove a car off a building once to prove its durability.  Hey.  He drove it away.  He developed the Prest-O-Lite headlamp which he manufactured, then sold to Union Carbide in 1909 before going into the car sales business with his racing buddy, Barney Oldfield.  The Fisher Automobile Company of Indianapolis is thought to be the first car dealership in the United States.  He sold Oldsmobiles, Reos, Packards, Stoddard-Daytons and Stutz Bearcats.  One day he hooked up a Stoddard-Dayton to a hot air balloon and soared it over the downtown area, then supposedly drove it back to the dealership.  It was a huge publicity success and no one ever knew the car he drove back was an identical one.  The “flying” one had its engine removed to make it light enough for the balloon to get it aloft.
image via wikipedia courtesy of the Library of Congress (Fisher at the wheel)

Fisher became a partner in the Indianapolis Moter Speedway Corporation in 1909 and the first race, held on a gravel track, resulted in numerous wrecks, with fires and injuries and deaths to both drivers and spectators .  The event was stopped halfway through.  It was then that Carl Fisher paved the track with 3.2 million bricks resulting in the nickname, The Brickyard.  Today, the start/finish line consists of a 36-inch strip of the original brick paving known as, pay attention, The Brick Yard.

Four years later Fisher conceived and helped develop the Lincoln Highway, the first road across America from New York City to San Francisco.  Much of the construction costs were paid for by public and private contributions.  Former President Teddy Roosevelt and inventor Thomas Edison, both friends of Fisher, chipped in.  So did the president, Woodrow Wilson.  Lt. Col. Dwight D. Eisonhower said he got his inspiration for the interstate system while travelling the Lincoln Highway.

With the east-west out of the way Fisher turned his attention to the other direction and came up with a network of routes that became known as the Dixie Highway running from the U.P. of Michigan to south Florida.  That is where he began to accrue his ultimate $100 million fortune.

Fisher got married in 1909 while engaged to another woman.  A year later he and his wife vacationed in Miami and he began buying up swamp land between the city and the ocean.  He ended up developing 3,500 acres there and he called it Miami Beach.
image via wikipedia

A bridge spanning Biscayne Bay between Miami and the island that became Miami Beach was being build by a man named John Collins from New Jersey.  Collins ran short of funds before the bridge was finished and Fisher loaned him money to finish it in exchange for 200 acres of farm land.  The bridge became the longest wooden bridge in the world.  Fisher paid to have the bay dredged and built numerous luxury hotels there including the famous Flamingo Hotel.

Not one to slow down, in 1926 Fisher began his Miami Beach of the North project located in Montauk on Long Island, New York.  There, he created a marina, built luxury hotels and the Montauk Mnor, a luxury resort which still exists.  But, the real estate bust  came to Florida in the mid 1920s and a huge hurricane nearly destroyed Miami Beach in 1926.  Fisher depended on his Florida income to finance his Long Island project which ended up in receivorship following the stock market crash of ‘29.  Fisher was broke.  He received a $500.00  monthly stipend from his former partners to do promotional work for them.  He lived alone (following his divorce) in a small cottage on Miami Beach.
                                          
image via wikipedia

His final project was to be known as the Caribbean Club located in Key Largo, Florida.  It was fishing club “…for men of modest means.  A poor man’s retreat.”  Eight years after his death that resort was used as the site for filming the movie “Key Largo” starring Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall.

Carl G. Fisher of Greensburg ,Indiana died at the age of 65 when his stomach bled out following a long illness complicated by alcoholism.  Like father, like son.    His ex-wife would write of him.  He was all about speed.  He did not have time to take time.  He loved to see dirt fly.

Greensburg has a population of about 12,000 fine folks.  It is my educated guess that not more that three of them have ever heard of Carl Craham Fisher.  Sad.