🔎 UNIDENTIFIED Emerson & Fisher Co. plaque

[elemerica]

Found this in central Virginia. I can't find a whole lot about Emerson & Fisher Co other than a lithograph that repeatedly pops up from lots of different sources and that the company was a carriage manufacturer. I can't really find any historical information on the company or anything specific that they built. I'm just curious if anyone has found something similar or has any more info about it.

It reads: Emerson & Fisher Co. ?? Ohio

It seems likely that the illegible text would be Cincinnati as it seems like that's where they were located, but I can't really find a definitive answer on that either.

Thanks!

 

[villagenut]

Found this.....they were part of the 1893 expo where they showed their carriages off along with several other cinncinatti manufacturers. There are a bunch of pics in the book that this info came from.

 

[Red-Coat]

Emerson & Fisher Co. was founded by Lowe Emerson in 1872 to make horse drawn vehicles and later automobiles and motorcycles. He was one of the first to use machinery of his own patent in their manufacture. There is some question as to whether he sold this machinery to others. [Ref: Carriage and Wagon Makers Machinery and Tools by Kenneth L. Cope, 2004 page 88]

They originally also made equipment associated with horse-drawn vehicles, such as harnesses.

They helped compile the illustrated 1893 brochure promoting carriages at the Chicago World Fair that @villagenut referenced above. You can get it as a free pdf download from the Internet Archive, with no log-in or account needed:

https://ia600504.us.archive.org/35/items/worldscarriagebu00cinc/worldscarriagebu00cinc.pdf

 

[elemerica]

Amazing, thank you both!

Emerson & Fisher Co. was founded by Lowe Emerson in 1872 to make horse drawn vehicles and later automobiles and motorcycles.

Now I'm curious if this little piece is from a carriage or something else.

 

[AU Seeker]

I found this 1898 "The Emerson and Fisher Co. Harness Catalogue"

Harness catalogue of the Emerson & Fisher Co., pioneer carriage builder for the trade [1898]

digital.cincinnatilibrary.org

 

[AU Seeker]

What is the size of the plaque, I would think it was on a carriage.

 

[elemerica]

It's actually rather small, I should have included measurements in the original post...

It's about 2.5 inches wide by 3/4 inch tall. The fastener on the left side is a small nail or tack, so it was presumably on something wooden.

 

[AU Seeker]

I would check around in the spot you found it you may find some other metal parts to the carriage/buggy, may only be screws, bolts, nuts and other carriage hardware, pretty sure you wont find any wood being as that plaque has probably been there 100 to 125+ years

 

[invent4hir]

Neat piece of history (and education)!

 

[BullBat]

Read about Emerson & Fischer Co.'s part in the first motor car in Detroit:

Charles B. King

Do you like sitting on the left side of your car? How about shifting with your right hand? These patented designs, along with 63 others, came to market courtesy of Charles Brady King. During a long…

detroithistorical.wordpress.com

 

[BullBat]

Business partners Lowe Emerson and J.W. Fisher formed the carriage business. Very little was found on Fisher, however Emerson was a very prominent figure in the business world. An interesting biography (including his surviving the battles at Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and Gettysburg in the Civil War) is outlined at:

Lieut Lowe Emerson (1837-1916) - Find a Grave...

Business Executive, Union Civil War Officer. Born near Haverhill, Massachusetts, he was raised on his family's farm and attended the common rural schools of the area. In 1852, he attended the Conference Seminary at Northfield, New Hampshire, graduated in 1855, and went into business in the shoe...

www.findagrave.com