Encyclopedia Dubuque
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Affiliated with the Local History Network of the State Historical Society of Iowa, and the Iowa Museum Association.
FISCHER COMPANIES (THE)
FISCHER COMPANIES (THE). In 2010 the Fischer Companies was one of the largest commercial entities in the city of Dubuque.
In 1875 when Louis FISCHER died unexpectedly, his partners saw an opportunity to buy out his shares of the company. They offered his widow a low price at which she could sell out to them or they had the option to buy her out. His wife, Caroline FISCHER chose instead to buy out their shares. At the age of thirty-one, she became one of Iowa's youngest businesswomen.
Operating in a very business-like manner, Caroline brought her family into the company. Especially important was her daughter Julia who worked with the books. It was Julia Mathis who assumed the leadership of the company when her mother died.
Julia's daughter, Pauline, later married Louis PFOHL who was a major force in diversifying the company. In 1900 the business included ice, wood, and oil and later started the coal storage plant on the MISSISSIPPI RIVER. Pfohl, who began the plastics division in New York, began buying large tracts of property which expanded the company into real estate.
In 2010 Fischer Companies owned in addition to the HOTEL JULIEN DUBUQUE the Fischer Building, 909 Main St.; Fischer Arcade 880 Locust St.; Farley & Loetscher Building 698 Jackson St.; the Kirby Building, 701 White St.; the former site of BETTY JANE HOMEMADE CANDIES, 965 Main; several apartment buildings and parking lots, property in the Port of Dubuque; and undeveloped farmland on the corner of Asbury Road and the NORTHWEST ARTERIAL.
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Source:
"Rich History for Fischer Companies," 175 Years Volume II, Telegraph Herald, June 23, 2008