Fischer Brothers, Whose Watch And Jewelry Business Still Stands, Started Out On Cameron Hill

  • Wednesday, August 31, 2022
  • John Wilson
Clock outside Fischer Brothers was long a fixture on Market Street
Clock outside Fischer Brothers was long a fixture on Market Street

The Fischer Brothers, whose watch and jewelry business still stands at the old familiar site of 801 Market St., started out on Cameron Hill.

William F. and Louis L. Fischer, two bachelor brothers who always lived together, boarded at 212 W. Fifth before they settled in on an upper floor of their Eighth and Market commercial building. Before that, they lived with another brother, Otto Fischer, at Fifth and Chestnut.

Otto Fischer worked for the Soddy Coal Company, then he became a Chattanooga lawyer.

Will Fischer opened his business in a boarded-up stable on Market Street in July of 1867. He was only in his early 20s and was soon joined by his younger brother.  

Will Fischer was born in 1846 in Mecklenburg, Germany, and came with his parents at a young age, first to New York, and then to Dalton, Ga,, where he spent much of his youth. He came to Chattanooga in July of 1867. He first rented a little frame building on Market Street, where he repaired watches. He bought a small stock of watches and jewelry on credit and was launched in a full-time business. Lou Fischer joined him in 1869, and the firm took the name W.F. Fischer and Brother. The brothers moved to a better location in 1870, but the building was lost in a fire in 1871. They soon were re-established at the southwest corner of Market and Eighth streets.

When a new courthouse was built in 1878, the Fischers ordered a 3,000-pound bell for it from a firm in Troy, N.Y.

The Fischers unveiled a new store at their Eighth and Market site in December of 1881. It featured furniture of ebonized cherry, trimmed with elaborate designs in solid gold. In the rear of the store was a "magnificent" mirror encased in black cherry. In the center of each wall were bevel-edged French mirrors. The Fischers displayed $1,000 ear drops and $500 brooches in the handsome furniture cases.

One morning in June 1909, Will Fischer had gone upstairs after not feeling well. His nephew, W.M. Hatcher, had gone to see him about a matter and went upstairs to his apartment. When he could not get him to come to the door, he with the help of a porter was able to get into the residence, where Will Fischer was found dead from natural causes. He was 62 years old.

Lou Fischer, who was born about three years later than Will after the family had settled in New York City from Germany, went on to head the jewelry company for 22 years. His death came on March 14, 1931. He was a member of First Presbyterian Church and resided at the Mountain City Club, where he died following a heart attack after returning from a Florida vacation.

Both Fischer brothers are buried at Forest Hills Cemetery.

Carter Evans purchased Fischer Brothers in 1956 and changed the name to Fischer-Evans. Howard Glover purchased Fischer-Evans in 1970. 

There was a landmark clock that long stood on Market Street outside the jewelry business, but it was taken down for safety reasons. 

 

  
William F. Fischer
William F. Fischer
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