February 5, 2025 • 25 mins
Kate Waldera talks to Johnathan Campbell about Asa Fischer.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to History Hot Dish, a casual conversation about the
historic people and events they give Bismarke.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
It's unique flavor.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
History Hot Dish is brought to you by the Bismarck
Historical Society, a local nonprofit whose mission is to learn, preserve,
and promote the history of Bismarck. Sit back, turn up
the volume and enjoy another helping of history Hot Dish.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to another episode of History Hot Dish. I'm your host,
Kate Waldera, a member of the Bismarck Historical Society Board
of Directors. Today our guest is Jonathan Campbell, and he
is returning to the microphone with a new topic. Asa Fisher,
an early leader in Bismarck. Jonathan, thank you for coming
(00:45):
back for another helping of history Hot Dish.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, for our listeners that might not recall your first
visit with us in episode one, tell us about yourself,
your background, and why you're interested in sharing this special
story about as of Fisher Well.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I was born and raised in Bismarck. I went to school,
graduated Century High School in nineteen eighty eight, which is
getting to be a long time ago. Spent a few
years in Grand Forest, going to school where I earned
a degree in visual art. People often assume that I
have a degree in history for what I do as
(01:24):
a site supervisor former governments manage at Camp Hancock, State
of Sort sites here in Bismarck. But I'm actually a
visual artist by training. Asa Fisher he's one of those
people that very important to the foundings of Bismarck. But
you don't find much information about him, and I just
think it's important that we get word out about him.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, and you're right. I've done some research myself on him,
and you don't find an awful lot about as of Fisher.
And as a result, many of our listeners probably are
not familiar with him as well. And as you said,
we don't see a lot written about him. So who
was he, how did he come to the area, and
why is he important to Bismarck. Well.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Asa Fisher was born in Medley, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.
We don't know a lot about his early life. We
know that t was He grew up on a farm.
They were a fairly prosperous farm. He had quite a
few siblings and when he got here he was twenty
(02:31):
six In eighteen seventy two, and we know he served
in the Civil War, but we don't know much about that.
I reached out to some of his descendants and other
than they knew he was a family member, they didn't
have any information on him. But he arrived here in
eighteen seventy two. He was one of the first settlers
out here in the new town of Edwinton. And he
(02:56):
of a news story from later in his life where
he describes that he came from parts out east, got
here and the early summer he liked it and decided
this is where he was going to stay. So he
took a job on the Northern Pacific Railroad coming from Fargo,
making its way from Fargo to Bismarck, shoveling dirt. And
(03:17):
he spent the summer of eighteen seventy two helping build
the railroad. And we know that he took his earnings
from that in the fall and he bought a share
in a saloon on the corner of Fourth and Maine Avenue.
And the saloon was not a building. It was in
a canvas tent. You know, you know, such a new
(03:39):
town that there was a lot of building materials here,
so people were just bringing in these big canvas tents,
and he bought shares in the saloon, and by the
spring of eighteen seventy three he owned the entire saloon. Wow,
you know, so he appeared to be a pretty good businessman.
But in the spring of eighteen seventy three he decided
(04:01):
he was going to build a wood building, you know,
a stick building. And he wasn't one hundred percent sure
what he was going to put into it, but it
quickly became obvious that he was going to open a
billiard's hall, and he opened the A's of Fisher Billards
Hall in that spot right on the It was the
(04:23):
second building off of Fourth Street on Main Avenue, and
it was prosperous. It was considered one of the nicer
places to go hang out here in Bismarck. But with
the railroad completed the Bismarck but no bridge to get
across the river, he wasn't finding his prospects as good
(04:48):
as they could have been here. So he decided he
was going to move away and move to the Black
Hills in eighteen seventy six, and he told the the
people in Bismarck, pay up, I'm leaving.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Very tactic.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, took a ad out in the paper essentially.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
You know, and he debts old pay him right now please.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, So we know he went to the Black Hills
in eighteen seventy six and he rented out his Billard's
hall to a gentleman from Minnesota who moved down here,
who had been running a Billard's hall in I can't
think of the town of Minnesota, but when the small
towns and this man came down here and opened up
his own Billards hall in that spot in Asia Fisher,
(05:35):
we don't have We have no idea what he did
in the Black Hills, but he spent about a year
in the Black Hills, and he was prompted to come
back in the spring of eighteen seventy seven when downtown
Bismarck burned, Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Because he saw his opportunity there for rebuilding.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah. Well, yeah, because he lost his property. And there's
a newspaper artic on it that states very clearly that
he had no insurance to cover that. But when he
came back, he had enough money that he was able
to build a new building, a two story would one
about a block to the west.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
And I wonder if he didn't make some of his money.
Would that have been about the time of the goal.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yes, it was definitely the gold rush. But whether he
was panting for gold or invested in a mine, we
don't know. Maybe he had a billiard saw. We don't
have that history, you know, so we're not no. But
when he came back, he definitely had some money that
he did not have.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
He got it from.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah. So he he opened up another building which he
rented out as somebody who opened a wholesale liquor distribution,
and within a month he owned that stock and he
was running the wholesale liquor distribution and he ran that
until the early eighteen eighties. But he partnered with a
(07:00):
number of other people in town to build on his
form a lot and lots around it, a three story
brick building which was to be the first National Bank
of Bismarck. Okay, So he was one of the founding
members of that.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
And that would have been one of the buildings that
burned in the big fires.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah eight, that was burned down. Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, that was quite an attractive building if I remember right.
It had spires, It was very imposing.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
It was the first multi story brick building in Bismarck,
you know, so, I mean it was you know, for
its time, you know, it was big city.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, and that tells us that, you know, as you said,
he was, you know, an entrepreneur. He was definitely a businessman.
He was savvy enough to see opportunity and grab it,
you know, and make the best of it, you know,
with his investment in the bank, you know, and then
his other businesses with the liquor Trump liquor business and
(08:05):
the billiards and stuff. He was very much kind of
almost a definitely.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Definitely an entrepreneur. He was a really good businessman, you
knew how to make money.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
What other activities besides those that you've mentioned was he
involved with.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Well, he also brought up a lot of property in town.
I mean he was selling property, buying up property. He
wasn't building on property. He was mostly buying it for resale.
But he also he he wasn't just in Bismarck. He
had property in Dickinson, Billions, Montana. We know, he opened
(08:47):
a lumber yard and peer down in Dakota Territory down.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Oh my gosh, she was all over.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
He was all over. There's some possibility that he was
also running business down in Saint Paul, Minneapolis area. He
traveled down there on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Interesting. Yeah, he definitely got around and he seized his
opportunities to make his money.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Well.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
A reminder for our guests that have just joined us,
you're listening to History Hot Dish on Radio Access one
oh two point five FM. I'm your host Kate Waldera
and our guest today is Jonathan Campbell, and we're talking
about ASA Fisher and how he helped shape Bismarck in
his early days with ASA Fisher. You know, he, as
(09:33):
I said, he helped shape Bismarck. Was he ever involved,
like in politics or government at all?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yes, ASA Fisher. His first involvement in politics in the
area was in eighteen seventy three when Burley County was
became officially a county and he was one of the
first elected county commissioners. Him in two other businessman in
the town here, mister White and a mister Dunn. They
(10:05):
were the first elected county commissioners. But we also know
that he did go on after that. He was on
the Bismarck City Commission. He was never mayor, but there's
indications that he was mayor pro tem on multiple occasions.
He was actively involved with the city of Bismarck and
(10:30):
bringing in steamboats, and he was very involved with operations
on a state level. He wasn't ever directly involved in politics,
but he was definitely behind the scenes. He was in
charge of the Republican Party when it formed for statehood
(10:51):
in eighteen eighty nine for the District one in Bismarck,
and we know that he traveled for statehood and was
involved with that, but he was definitely using his money
behind the scenes. He was a good friends with Alexander Mackenzie.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I was just going to ask that because we know
what a political boss Mackenzie was, and I, like you said,
you know, he was working closely with him, good friends,
and so they were kind of a political duo.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
It sounds like definitely. And one of our biggest indicators
that they were friends was that Alexander Mackenzie, when he
was out in Washington basically was arrested for claim jumping
a gold mine up in Alaska. Asa Fisher actually went
(11:43):
out to comfort him.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
So you know, there was a close relationship.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Absolutely, his friend was in trouble and he wanted to
do what he could. Interesting. Well, I kind of thought
with Asa with his fingers in all kinds of different pots,
that politics would definitely be something that he would be working,
maybe not as you said, in the front of the table,
but working.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
In the back most definitely.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Right now, many of the Bismarck pioneers and leaders still
exist in Bismarck. We have names such as the Grant
Mark Bridge or the Patterson Building. Those are two that
come to mind. Those names help preserve the local legends
and the legacies when we talk about this program, you know,
(12:32):
there's something here that reminds us that these people existed,
like Grant Mark Bridge, Patterson Building. What legacy remains of
Asa Fisher in modern day Bismarck.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Well, there are two things that remind us that he
was an important part of Bismarck. The first one is
that there is a area of Bismarck just east of
the state capitol that's called the Fisher addition, it consists
of a few hundred lots. It was property that he
purchased in the eighteen eighties and sold, you know, and
(13:09):
it's all full of houses now. But that but I
think the most important one, his biggest legacy is that
he had what is now called the former governors mentioned
status Shork site. That was his home that he had
built for his family in eighteen eighty four, you know,
and that which he sold to the state of North
(13:32):
Dakota in eighteen ninety three for the pricely sum of
forty five hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, what would that translate into day's roughly one hundred
and fifty thousand.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Okay, So he gave the state a very good deal
on that. And that's partly that there he was having
some financial difficulties. He was an aggressive businessman, and he
sued and got sued, and some cases were coming back
to haunt him. But I think it's also that he
was involved in state politics and he was just doing
(14:02):
a good turn and sold the house because the state
needed a place for the governor to stay.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Right now, the house that he built versus what we
see now, what were what would be some major differences.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Well, the biggest difference, you know, the house is green
now it represents the color was in eighteen ninety three,
but it became the governor's mansion. When he had it built,
it would have been a kind of a brick red
with a dark green trim, and of course the house
also would have been out in the countryside. Now it's
in the middle of Bisiness Mark. You know, when he
(14:38):
had it built in eighteen eighty four, it essentially set
up on a hill and overlooked his empire downtown and
you can't even see the downtown now for all the
trees and policies. Yes, you know, in the interior, you know,
we represent all the periods when the governors lived there.
But about a year and a half ago we finished
(15:01):
a project where the parlor, you know, which is the
main room, we had it re wallpapered. We had the
original eighteen eighties paper that would have been in there
when as a Fisher and his family in there. We
had it reproduced and had that room redone. You know.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So I was going to ask you about that because
I know you've kind of done an archaeological dig, so
to speak, of carefully removing layers of wallpaper and kind
of dating those. And it's interesting that you were able
to replicate the wallpaper from ace of Fisher's time in
the parlor.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah, you know, it was the lowest one. It was
on bear plaster. But we also had a couple photos
from his time period where we could actually see the
paper was there, So I mean we had verification that
was the paper. You know.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The pattern interesting, very interesting. And with regards to Ace
of Fisher, I know we see a lot of his
public life. What about his private life? You said he
had a family there, Like, how many children did he have?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Yeah, when they moved in the house in eighteen eighty four,
it was him, his wife out of line, his stepdaughter Lilian,
and his mother Betsy. Four people lived in the house originally,
and his mother moved out after a couple of years
and she moved to Colorado, and his step daughter, who
(16:26):
was a teenager when they moved in, within a few
years she was ready for marriage and she married a
publisher from down in South Dakota and she moved out.
So it's just the two of them in the house.
You know, so four people, I mean it's a mansion.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It's a big house. Even for four people, it would
be huge.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Of course. And we also know there are servant quarters
in the house. There are two rooms, so we assume
he had at least two servants that lived there too.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yeah, because I remember one time when I visited the
governor's mansion, and it was mentioned about servants quarters and
I think they were upstairs, weren't they.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I believe. Yeah, they are up on the second floor.
And one of the thing that's interesting about them, they're
very small rooms, but they're actually to go into them,
you have to take a step down. They literally had
to change the structure of the house. And it's my
understanding they actually did this on purpose as a reminder
of their position. Yeah, so yeah, step down, yes, and
(17:31):
you have to step up when he went into the
main house. But we have no we know nothing about
his servants. That's a history that was not recorded.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well, they probably didn't figure they were worth recording, most likely.
But yeah, that house is just so interesting. The you know,
how he built it there, and then how it became
home for many governors, and then and then being on
the edge of town, and then the governor that died
in office watched Bismarck burn that from that house. I
(18:06):
mean that house. If walls could talk, there would be
a lot of stories it could tell.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Governor Briggs, who was actually him and Asia Fisher were
best friends. Oh my god, hung out a lot. Okay,
they're both Shriners and we know that there's multiple newspaper
articles describing in the spending time together.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Interesting with all the friendships that he had of some
pretty pretty powerful people, and what other types of individuals
did he hang out with other than these up and
coming like Mackenzie and Briggs.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
You know, there's not a lot of information on that
far as people. We do know that him and his
wife were considered the social elite of Bismarck and they
partied a lot. There are multiple Bismarck Tribune articles that
describe them having parties at their house and everybody, territorial governors,
(19:00):
I mean over, anybody who was any of importance to
Bismarck in the region, those are the people that were
coming to the parties.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, they were definitely the social, like you said, the
social lelead of Bismarck. Now, did Asa Fisher stay in
Bismarck after he sold the house to the state or
did he leave the area?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Well, when he sold the house to the state in
eighteen ninety three, we used to think that he did
move away right away, but in my research I found
that him and his wife actually stayed in Bismarck until
eighteen ninety six. They moved to a smaller home. It
was the Presperian church. It was the minister's home. I
(19:42):
don't know exactly where it was, but it's clearly stated
that's the house they moved into.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
And I think that would be like maybe there in Mandawm.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah, somewhere in that now.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I think was the Ronocal hotel or was that the
minister's home because that was near the Presbyterian Church.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
I do not know, not familiar, right.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I heard and maybe I heard wrong that the Roanoke
was a hotel or a boarding house type situation, and
that might have been the minister's home because that would
have been very close to where the old Presbyterian church was,
so it's possible lived, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
But in eighteen ninety six he moved to Cripple Creek, Colorado,
and there was really no mention of his wife, you know,
so it was assumed that she went with. But as
it turns out, he went west and she went east,
and we don't really know exactly where she went she
did it. Eventually she shows up in Minneapolis in the
(20:49):
late eighteen nineties, but they never saw each other again,
and he passed away in nineteen eleven. But in his
time in Colorado, invested in silver mining and became even wealthier,
and he was involved in a brokerage in Denver, and
he considered Denver in Cripple Creek, Colorado, his final home.
(21:13):
And he went out to return to Boston. He had
heart trouble. He knew he was dying, so he went home.
But when after he passed away, the Bismarck Tribune ran
a obituary that story on him, and almost all our
history came from that that you see, there's information, We
(21:35):
have a book on the former governor's mansion, there's some
information on the internet about him. Unfortunately, that article the
Bismark Tribune ran in nineteen eleven eleven is mostly wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I suppose people were just desperate for facts and they
had a lot of conjecture.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Yes, you know, But as it turns out, the article
even said his wife had passed away, and she was
very much alive, and he left his fortune for the
most part to her, and she returned to Bismarck and
claimed it.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I would too, definitely. Oh, and then would he have
been buried back in his home state of Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
He is buried just outside of Boston. In the family
plot you know. So, I mean, we know where his
grave is, his descendants know he's there. They just didn't
know much about him.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Yeah, and that's so interesting someone that was so active
in the business world and in the political arena that
there just wasn't much written about him. That really surprises me.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Well, I think a good portion of that is he
didn't have any family left here, and much of our
history is remembered by our families and passed one. That's true,
you know, so I think he'd just kind of gotten
forgotten about.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah. Well, he definitely had impact on our city, you know,
and we remember him for the beautiful building that became
the former governor's mansion, you know, and then the businesses
that he did and the wealth that he had. You know,
he did for a short period of time, he was
a major player in Bismarck. And I really have found
(23:20):
this very interesting. I didn't know much about Asa Fisher
other than beyond he had been the owner and the
builder of the former's governor's mansion that was his home
before he sold it to the state. And well, so
close out the program, Jonathan, where can our audience find
out more information about the history of Asa Fisher?
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Well, they can always visit the former governor's mansion. We
do have a binder that has pretty much every newspaper
article that was written about him. But if you'd like
to do your own that where most information is at
is on the Library of Congress, their digital digitized newspapers
(24:02):
Chronicle America, and just do a search for Asa Fish
or Bismarck and there'll be hundreds of little articles. Some
of them are just you know, yeah, they had a
party here, you know, they traveled somewhere. But there are
some really interesting ones that describe some of the lawsuits
he was involved with.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Oh yes, well, when someone is as much in a
business as he was, and who knows, maybe some of
his dealings weren't exactly kosher. I mean, you don't know,
so we don't want to make those kinds of assumptions,
but he obviously ruffled a few feathers.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Along the way most definitely.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yes, Well, thank you so much for joining us today
for a very interesting program on Asa Fisher, a businessman
in Bismarck, the builder of the house that we now
know as the former Governor's mansion. And thank you again
for coming, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
For having me, thank you for listening to History Hot
Dish if you like what you heard. The Bismarck Historical
Society hosts programs and events throughout the year. We welcome
all those with an interest in local history to join us.
For more information about programs or membership, visit our website
Bismarkhistory dot org or find us on Facebook. You can
find History Hot Dish on one o two point five FM,
(25:20):
Radioaccess dot org, and anywhere you find great podcasts. History
Hot Dish is produced by the Bismarck Historical Society in
partnership with Dakota Media Access
Welcome to History Hot Dish, a casual conversation about the
historic people and events they give Bismarke.
Speaker 3 (00:07):
It's unique flavor.
Speaker 1 (00:09):
History Hot Dish is brought to you by the Bismarck
Historical Society, a local nonprofit whose mission is to learn, preserve,
and promote the history of Bismarck. Sit back, turn up
the volume and enjoy another helping of history Hot Dish.
Speaker 2 (00:24):
Welcome to another episode of History Hot Dish. I'm your host,
Kate Waldera, a member of the Bismarck Historical Society Board
of Directors. Today our guest is Jonathan Campbell, and he
is returning to the microphone with a new topic. Asa Fisher,
an early leader in Bismarck. Jonathan, thank you for coming
(00:45):
back for another helping of history Hot Dish.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (00:49):
Yeah, for our listeners that might not recall your first
visit with us in episode one, tell us about yourself,
your background, and why you're interested in sharing this special
story about as of Fisher Well.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
I was born and raised in Bismarck. I went to school,
graduated Century High School in nineteen eighty eight, which is
getting to be a long time ago. Spent a few
years in Grand Forest, going to school where I earned
a degree in visual art. People often assume that I
have a degree in history for what I do as
(01:24):
a site supervisor former governments manage at Camp Hancock, State
of Sort sites here in Bismarck. But I'm actually a
visual artist by training. Asa Fisher he's one of those
people that very important to the foundings of Bismarck. But
you don't find much information about him, and I just
think it's important that we get word out about him.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
Yeah, and you're right. I've done some research myself on him,
and you don't find an awful lot about as of Fisher.
And as a result, many of our listeners probably are
not familiar with him as well. And as you said,
we don't see a lot written about him. So who
was he, how did he come to the area, and
why is he important to Bismarck. Well.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
Asa Fisher was born in Medley, Massachusetts, just outside Boston.
We don't know a lot about his early life. We
know that t was He grew up on a farm.
They were a fairly prosperous farm. He had quite a
few siblings and when he got here he was twenty
(02:31):
six In eighteen seventy two, and we know he served
in the Civil War, but we don't know much about that.
I reached out to some of his descendants and other
than they knew he was a family member, they didn't
have any information on him. But he arrived here in
eighteen seventy two. He was one of the first settlers
out here in the new town of Edwinton. And he
(02:56):
of a news story from later in his life where
he describes that he came from parts out east, got
here and the early summer he liked it and decided
this is where he was going to stay. So he
took a job on the Northern Pacific Railroad coming from Fargo,
making its way from Fargo to Bismarck, shoveling dirt. And
(03:17):
he spent the summer of eighteen seventy two helping build
the railroad. And we know that he took his earnings
from that in the fall and he bought a share
in a saloon on the corner of Fourth and Maine Avenue.
And the saloon was not a building. It was in
a canvas tent. You know, you know, such a new
(03:39):
town that there was a lot of building materials here,
so people were just bringing in these big canvas tents,
and he bought shares in the saloon, and by the
spring of eighteen seventy three he owned the entire saloon. Wow,
you know, so he appeared to be a pretty good businessman.
But in the spring of eighteen seventy three he decided
(04:01):
he was going to build a wood building, you know,
a stick building. And he wasn't one hundred percent sure
what he was going to put into it, but it
quickly became obvious that he was going to open a
billiard's hall, and he opened the A's of Fisher Billards
Hall in that spot right on the It was the
(04:23):
second building off of Fourth Street on Main Avenue, and
it was prosperous. It was considered one of the nicer
places to go hang out here in Bismarck. But with
the railroad completed the Bismarck but no bridge to get
across the river, he wasn't finding his prospects as good
(04:48):
as they could have been here. So he decided he
was going to move away and move to the Black
Hills in eighteen seventy six, and he told the the
people in Bismarck, pay up, I'm leaving.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Very tactic.
Speaker 3 (05:05):
Yeah, took a ad out in the paper essentially.
Speaker 2 (05:08):
You know, and he debts old pay him right now please.
Speaker 3 (05:11):
Yeah, So we know he went to the Black Hills
in eighteen seventy six and he rented out his Billard's
hall to a gentleman from Minnesota who moved down here,
who had been running a Billard's hall in I can't
think of the town of Minnesota, but when the small
towns and this man came down here and opened up
his own Billards hall in that spot in Asia Fisher,
(05:35):
we don't have We have no idea what he did
in the Black Hills, but he spent about a year
in the Black Hills, and he was prompted to come
back in the spring of eighteen seventy seven when downtown
Bismarck burned, Okay.
Speaker 2 (05:50):
Because he saw his opportunity there for rebuilding.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
Yeah. Well, yeah, because he lost his property. And there's
a newspaper artic on it that states very clearly that
he had no insurance to cover that. But when he
came back, he had enough money that he was able
to build a new building, a two story would one
about a block to the west.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
And I wonder if he didn't make some of his money.
Would that have been about the time of the goal.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yes, it was definitely the gold rush. But whether he
was panting for gold or invested in a mine, we
don't know. Maybe he had a billiard saw. We don't
have that history, you know, so we're not no. But
when he came back, he definitely had some money that
he did not have.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
He got it from.
Speaker 3 (06:35):
Yeah. So he he opened up another building which he
rented out as somebody who opened a wholesale liquor distribution,
and within a month he owned that stock and he
was running the wholesale liquor distribution and he ran that
until the early eighteen eighties. But he partnered with a
(07:00):
number of other people in town to build on his
form a lot and lots around it, a three story
brick building which was to be the first National Bank
of Bismarck. Okay, So he was one of the founding
members of that.
Speaker 2 (07:17):
And that would have been one of the buildings that
burned in the big fires.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Yeah eight, that was burned down. Okay.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Yeah, that was quite an attractive building if I remember right.
It had spires, It was very imposing.
Speaker 3 (07:30):
It was the first multi story brick building in Bismarck,
you know, so, I mean it was you know, for
its time, you know, it was big city.
Speaker 2 (07:41):
Yeah, and that tells us that, you know, as you said,
he was, you know, an entrepreneur. He was definitely a businessman.
He was savvy enough to see opportunity and grab it,
you know, and make the best of it, you know,
with his investment in the bank, you know, and then
his other businesses with the liquor Trump liquor business and
(08:05):
the billiards and stuff. He was very much kind of
almost a definitely.
Speaker 3 (08:11):
Definitely an entrepreneur. He was a really good businessman, you
knew how to make money.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
What other activities besides those that you've mentioned was he
involved with.
Speaker 3 (08:22):
Well, he also brought up a lot of property in town.
I mean he was selling property, buying up property. He
wasn't building on property. He was mostly buying it for resale.
But he also he he wasn't just in Bismarck. He
had property in Dickinson, Billions, Montana. We know, he opened
(08:47):
a lumber yard and peer down in Dakota Territory down.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Oh my gosh, she was all over.
Speaker 3 (08:52):
He was all over. There's some possibility that he was
also running business down in Saint Paul, Minneapolis area. He
traveled down there on a regular basis.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Interesting. Yeah, he definitely got around and he seized his
opportunities to make his money.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
Well.
Speaker 2 (09:08):
A reminder for our guests that have just joined us,
you're listening to History Hot Dish on Radio Access one
oh two point five FM. I'm your host Kate Waldera
and our guest today is Jonathan Campbell, and we're talking
about ASA Fisher and how he helped shape Bismarck in
his early days with ASA Fisher. You know, he, as
(09:33):
I said, he helped shape Bismarck. Was he ever involved,
like in politics or government at all?
Speaker 3 (09:41):
Yes, ASA Fisher. His first involvement in politics in the
area was in eighteen seventy three when Burley County was
became officially a county and he was one of the
first elected county commissioners. Him in two other businessman in
the town here, mister White and a mister Dunn. They
(10:05):
were the first elected county commissioners. But we also know
that he did go on after that. He was on
the Bismarck City Commission. He was never mayor, but there's
indications that he was mayor pro tem on multiple occasions.
He was actively involved with the city of Bismarck and
(10:30):
bringing in steamboats, and he was very involved with operations
on a state level. He wasn't ever directly involved in politics,
but he was definitely behind the scenes. He was in
charge of the Republican Party when it formed for statehood
(10:51):
in eighteen eighty nine for the District one in Bismarck,
and we know that he traveled for statehood and was
involved with that, but he was definitely using his money
behind the scenes. He was a good friends with Alexander Mackenzie.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
I was just going to ask that because we know
what a political boss Mackenzie was, and I, like you said,
you know, he was working closely with him, good friends,
and so they were kind of a political duo.
Speaker 3 (11:22):
It sounds like definitely. And one of our biggest indicators
that they were friends was that Alexander Mackenzie, when he
was out in Washington basically was arrested for claim jumping
a gold mine up in Alaska. Asa Fisher actually went
(11:43):
out to comfort him.
Speaker 2 (11:45):
Oh my gosh.
Speaker 3 (11:46):
So you know, there was a close relationship.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Absolutely, his friend was in trouble and he wanted to
do what he could. Interesting. Well, I kind of thought
with Asa with his fingers in all kinds of different pots,
that politics would definitely be something that he would be working,
maybe not as you said, in the front of the table,
but working.
Speaker 3 (12:08):
In the back most definitely.
Speaker 2 (12:10):
Right now, many of the Bismarck pioneers and leaders still
exist in Bismarck. We have names such as the Grant
Mark Bridge or the Patterson Building. Those are two that
come to mind. Those names help preserve the local legends
and the legacies when we talk about this program, you know,
(12:32):
there's something here that reminds us that these people existed,
like Grant Mark Bridge, Patterson Building. What legacy remains of
Asa Fisher in modern day Bismarck.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Well, there are two things that remind us that he
was an important part of Bismarck. The first one is
that there is a area of Bismarck just east of
the state capitol that's called the Fisher addition, it consists
of a few hundred lots. It was property that he
purchased in the eighteen eighties and sold, you know, and
(13:09):
it's all full of houses now. But that but I
think the most important one, his biggest legacy is that
he had what is now called the former governors mentioned
status Shork site. That was his home that he had
built for his family in eighteen eighty four, you know,
and that which he sold to the state of North
(13:32):
Dakota in eighteen ninety three for the pricely sum of
forty five hundred dollars.
Speaker 2 (13:36):
Well, what would that translate into day's roughly one hundred
and fifty thousand.
Speaker 3 (13:42):
Okay, So he gave the state a very good deal
on that. And that's partly that there he was having
some financial difficulties. He was an aggressive businessman, and he
sued and got sued, and some cases were coming back
to haunt him. But I think it's also that he
was involved in state politics and he was just doing
(14:02):
a good turn and sold the house because the state
needed a place for the governor to stay.
Speaker 2 (14:08):
Right now, the house that he built versus what we
see now, what were what would be some major differences.
Speaker 3 (14:17):
Well, the biggest difference, you know, the house is green
now it represents the color was in eighteen ninety three,
but it became the governor's mansion. When he had it built,
it would have been a kind of a brick red
with a dark green trim, and of course the house
also would have been out in the countryside. Now it's
in the middle of Bisiness Mark. You know, when he
(14:38):
had it built in eighteen eighty four, it essentially set
up on a hill and overlooked his empire downtown and
you can't even see the downtown now for all the
trees and policies. Yes, you know, in the interior, you know,
we represent all the periods when the governors lived there.
But about a year and a half ago we finished
(15:01):
a project where the parlor, you know, which is the
main room, we had it re wallpapered. We had the
original eighteen eighties paper that would have been in there
when as a Fisher and his family in there. We
had it reproduced and had that room redone. You know.
Speaker 2 (15:16):
So I was going to ask you about that because
I know you've kind of done an archaeological dig, so
to speak, of carefully removing layers of wallpaper and kind
of dating those. And it's interesting that you were able
to replicate the wallpaper from ace of Fisher's time in
the parlor.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Yeah, you know, it was the lowest one. It was
on bear plaster. But we also had a couple photos
from his time period where we could actually see the
paper was there, So I mean we had verification that
was the paper. You know.
Speaker 2 (15:49):
The pattern interesting, very interesting. And with regards to Ace
of Fisher, I know we see a lot of his
public life. What about his private life? You said he
had a family there, Like, how many children did he have?
Speaker 3 (16:05):
Yeah, when they moved in the house in eighteen eighty four,
it was him, his wife out of line, his stepdaughter Lilian,
and his mother Betsy. Four people lived in the house originally,
and his mother moved out after a couple of years
and she moved to Colorado, and his step daughter, who
(16:26):
was a teenager when they moved in, within a few
years she was ready for marriage and she married a
publisher from down in South Dakota and she moved out.
So it's just the two of them in the house.
You know, so four people, I mean it's a mansion.
Speaker 2 (16:46):
It's a big house. Even for four people, it would
be huge.
Speaker 3 (16:50):
Of course. And we also know there are servant quarters
in the house. There are two rooms, so we assume
he had at least two servants that lived there too.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
Yeah, because I remember one time when I visited the
governor's mansion, and it was mentioned about servants quarters and
I think they were upstairs, weren't they.
Speaker 3 (17:08):
Yeah, I believe. Yeah, they are up on the second floor.
And one of the thing that's interesting about them, they're
very small rooms, but they're actually to go into them,
you have to take a step down. They literally had
to change the structure of the house. And it's my
understanding they actually did this on purpose as a reminder
of their position. Yeah, so yeah, step down, yes, and
(17:31):
you have to step up when he went into the
main house. But we have no we know nothing about
his servants. That's a history that was not recorded.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Well, they probably didn't figure they were worth recording, most likely.
But yeah, that house is just so interesting. The you know,
how he built it there, and then how it became
home for many governors, and then and then being on
the edge of town, and then the governor that died
in office watched Bismarck burn that from that house. I
(18:06):
mean that house. If walls could talk, there would be
a lot of stories it could tell.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Governor Briggs, who was actually him and Asia Fisher were
best friends. Oh my god, hung out a lot. Okay,
they're both Shriners and we know that there's multiple newspaper
articles describing in the spending time together.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Interesting with all the friendships that he had of some
pretty pretty powerful people, and what other types of individuals
did he hang out with other than these up and
coming like Mackenzie and Briggs.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
You know, there's not a lot of information on that
far as people. We do know that him and his
wife were considered the social elite of Bismarck and they
partied a lot. There are multiple Bismarck Tribune articles that
describe them having parties at their house and everybody, territorial governors,
(19:00):
I mean over, anybody who was any of importance to
Bismarck in the region, those are the people that were
coming to the parties.
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, they were definitely the social, like you said, the
social lelead of Bismarck. Now, did Asa Fisher stay in
Bismarck after he sold the house to the state or
did he leave the area?
Speaker 3 (19:22):
Well, when he sold the house to the state in
eighteen ninety three, we used to think that he did
move away right away, but in my research I found
that him and his wife actually stayed in Bismarck until
eighteen ninety six. They moved to a smaller home. It
was the Presperian church. It was the minister's home. I
(19:42):
don't know exactly where it was, but it's clearly stated
that's the house they moved into.
Speaker 2 (19:47):
And I think that would be like maybe there in Mandawm.
Speaker 3 (19:54):
Yeah, somewhere in that now.
Speaker 2 (19:57):
I think was the Ronocal hotel or was that the
minister's home because that was near the Presbyterian Church.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
I do not know, not familiar, right.
Speaker 2 (20:08):
I heard and maybe I heard wrong that the Roanoke
was a hotel or a boarding house type situation, and
that might have been the minister's home because that would
have been very close to where the old Presbyterian church was,
so it's possible lived, you know.
Speaker 3 (20:25):
But in eighteen ninety six he moved to Cripple Creek, Colorado,
and there was really no mention of his wife, you know,
so it was assumed that she went with. But as
it turns out, he went west and she went east,
and we don't really know exactly where she went she
did it. Eventually she shows up in Minneapolis in the
(20:49):
late eighteen nineties, but they never saw each other again,
and he passed away in nineteen eleven. But in his
time in Colorado, invested in silver mining and became even wealthier,
and he was involved in a brokerage in Denver, and
he considered Denver in Cripple Creek, Colorado, his final home.
(21:13):
And he went out to return to Boston. He had
heart trouble. He knew he was dying, so he went home.
But when after he passed away, the Bismarck Tribune ran
a obituary that story on him, and almost all our
history came from that that you see, there's information, We
(21:35):
have a book on the former governor's mansion, there's some
information on the internet about him. Unfortunately, that article the
Bismark Tribune ran in nineteen eleven eleven is mostly wrong.
Speaker 2 (21:50):
I suppose people were just desperate for facts and they
had a lot of conjecture.
Speaker 3 (21:55):
Yes, you know, But as it turns out, the article
even said his wife had passed away, and she was
very much alive, and he left his fortune for the
most part to her, and she returned to Bismarck and
claimed it.
Speaker 2 (22:11):
I would too, definitely. Oh, and then would he have
been buried back in his home state of Massachusetts.
Speaker 3 (22:20):
He is buried just outside of Boston. In the family
plot you know. So, I mean, we know where his
grave is, his descendants know he's there. They just didn't
know much about him.
Speaker 2 (22:34):
Yeah, and that's so interesting someone that was so active
in the business world and in the political arena that
there just wasn't much written about him. That really surprises me.
Speaker 3 (22:45):
Well, I think a good portion of that is he
didn't have any family left here, and much of our
history is remembered by our families and passed one. That's true,
you know, so I think he'd just kind of gotten
forgotten about.
Speaker 2 (22:58):
Yeah. Well, he definitely had impact on our city, you know,
and we remember him for the beautiful building that became
the former governor's mansion, you know, and then the businesses
that he did and the wealth that he had. You know,
he did for a short period of time, he was
a major player in Bismarck. And I really have found
(23:20):
this very interesting. I didn't know much about Asa Fisher
other than beyond he had been the owner and the
builder of the former's governor's mansion that was his home
before he sold it to the state. And well, so
close out the program, Jonathan, where can our audience find
out more information about the history of Asa Fisher?
Speaker 3 (23:41):
Well, they can always visit the former governor's mansion. We
do have a binder that has pretty much every newspaper
article that was written about him. But if you'd like
to do your own that where most information is at
is on the Library of Congress, their digital digitized newspapers
(24:02):
Chronicle America, and just do a search for Asa Fish
or Bismarck and there'll be hundreds of little articles. Some
of them are just you know, yeah, they had a
party here, you know, they traveled somewhere. But there are
some really interesting ones that describe some of the lawsuits
he was involved with.
Speaker 2 (24:23):
Oh yes, well, when someone is as much in a
business as he was, and who knows, maybe some of
his dealings weren't exactly kosher. I mean, you don't know,
so we don't want to make those kinds of assumptions,
but he obviously ruffled a few feathers.
Speaker 3 (24:39):
Along the way most definitely.
Speaker 2 (24:41):
Yes, Well, thank you so much for joining us today
for a very interesting program on Asa Fisher, a businessman
in Bismarck, the builder of the house that we now
know as the former Governor's mansion. And thank you again
for coming, thank you.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
For having me, thank you for listening to History Hot
Dish if you like what you heard. The Bismarck Historical
Society hosts programs and events throughout the year. We welcome
all those with an interest in local history to join us.
For more information about programs or membership, visit our website
Bismarkhistory dot org or find us on Facebook. You can
find History Hot Dish on one o two point five FM,
(25:20):
Radioaccess dot org, and anywhere you find great podcasts. History
Hot Dish is produced by the Bismarck Historical Society in
partnership with Dakota Media Access
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