Fisher Company celebrates 100 years in Mt. Pleasant, Midland, Bay City communities

Any way you look at it, 100 years is a long time. Maintaining and growing a business over a century is an incredible feat worthy of celebration. For the Fisher Companies, a group of family-owned businesses, this century of success stems from the vision Ralph and Zelda Fisher had long ago, and the commitment to the communities they continue to serve today. 

The History of Fisher Company 

Photo Courtesy Fisher CompaniesRalph and Zelda Fisher
In 1925, the Fisher family started a small sand and gravel business near Freeland. The business grew to encompass multiple sectors, but that unwavering mission and heart behind the company never shifted. 

As Fisher Sand & Gravel found a new home in Midland in the 1940s, three brothers (Bill, Jim, and Bud) took over the operation which was located on land from Dow Chemical Company. 

In the fifties, the next expansion came with Central Concrete Products in Mt. Pleasant, under Bud Fisher. After that, they added plant locations in Mt. Pleasant and Alma—then much later, in Clare. 

Throughout the next few decades, the company continued to broaden its reach throughout the Great Lakes Bay and central Michigan regions in Bay City, Midland, Mt. Pleasant, and Harrison, including: Fisher Contracting; Fisher Transportation; Central Asphalt; Bay Aggregates; Midland Engine; Bucks Run Golf Club; Port Fisher Terminals; and Fisher Construction Aggregates. 

Within the last decade or so, the company expanded its reach outside of the state of Michigan, providing operations throughout the Midwest and a permanent office in Kentucky. 

During the peak of their construction season, Fisher now employs approximately 560 individuals.

Photo Courtesy Fisher Companies

The Legacy Lives On

“Looking back over the past century, we are incredibly proud of how far we’ve come,” says J.W. Fisher, president of Fisher Contracting, in a press release. “Our continued success is a testament to the vision of my grandparents, Ralph and Zelda Fisher, and to the dedication of every person who has contributed to this journey.”

“As we celebrate 100 years, we are more committed than ever to upholding the values that made our company strong and we’re looking forward to the next century of growth and innovation,” he states.

Aaron White is the vice president of Central Asphalt and president of Fisher Construction Aggregates, running the day-to-day operations and overseeing operation of natural construction aggregates: mining in Harrison and throughout Isabella and Clare counties. 

“I’ve been with Fisher for almost 37 years,” White says. “When I got out of high school, I started as a truck driver working in our ready-mix plants, dispatching and driving ready-mix trucks. While going to college, I was also a trucking dispatcher, and when I graduated from college, I started working for Central Asphalt in 1998. I’ve been with them still through today, working my way up from a field supervisor construction tech all the way up to my current role.”

The diversified company offers many products and services, including heavy/highway civil contracting, sand, gravel and washed aggregate production, asphalt paving and production, aggregate dock supplying, heavy-haul trucking services, multi-modal port locations, ready-mix concrete supplies, engine rebuilding and equipment, sand, gravel and stone supplies, and a championship golf course. 

White says watching this vertical integration of the family business has been rewarding and inspiring. 

Photo Courtesy Fisher CompaniesArthur J. Fisher, James O. Fisher, Ralph J. Fisher Jr. (commonly referred to as Bud Fisher)
“My grandfather, Bud Fisher, was instrumental in moving a lot of our ready-mix operations over to the Mt. Pleasant area from Midland,” he says. “All of our companies are kind of aligned in the same way, so we work for each other but we also work for the public. That vertical integration in all of the different companies that support each other, along with servicing a great group of customers has been the biggest thing I’ve witnessed over the last 27 years.”

Just like White, many of the company’s employees have also been a part of the Fisher “family,” operating behind the scenes for decades. Some foreman employees have been with the company for over 30 years—and their sons have been foremans for over a decade, too. 

White attributes some of the business’ legacy and successes to those generational employees who have made careers for themselves and their families with Fisher.

The Commitment to Community

The community has also developed a sense of trust within the company’s reputation as a longstanding family business. 

Photo Courtesy Fisher CompaniesBucks Run Golf Course“Being part of a community is one thing, but also being an employer in the community for so many people for as long as we have been operating here, has been huge,” White says. “When people come to work for us, they want to stay here because they know we are not going anywhere.”

With any big milestone, celebrating often involves looking back over memories of the journey from then to now. An emotional moment for White was seeing a dream of his grandfather come true. 

“We built Bucks Run Golf Course and opened that in 2000, and that was a pretty proud moment,” he says. “We took a piece of land we had since the ‘50s, and we turned it into a beautification project of a golf course along the river. That to me, is something that meant a lot to me. My grandfather was very instrumental in that, and being able to have the fortitude to see that and put that plan into place was pretty special.”

The Fisher Company Gives Back

In order to succeed in a community, a business needs to grasp the community’s needs, likes, and wants. Their collective acceptance has helped propel Fisher into the next generations of business. 

As a way to thank communities for their support, and a way to fund the next generation of industry workers, Fisher has launched four endowed scholarships. This financial assistance will help those pursuing skilled trade careers in construction. 

They’ve partnered with the Midland Area Community Foundation, the Mt. Pleasant Area Community Foundation, the Bay Area Community Foundation, and the Community Foundation of South Central Kentucky.

“We thought this was important to give kids coming out of high school who don’t want to do the normal track, and want to look at something a little different,” White says.

“We thought it was important to give them the opportunity to apply for a scholarship, to promote the trades, and to help our industries,” he continues. “The trades are not glorified jobs, but they’re jobs that bring a lot of financial security to people. It’s a good paying job, it’s a respectable job, but it’s not one of those jobs that’s talked about in very high regard. We thought it was important to do that.”

Photo Courtesy Fisher Companies

The Centennial Celebration

In order to celebrate 100 years of growth, Fisher Companies has a few special events and initiatives to honor this multigenerational family legacy business. These special events are for customers, vendors, employees, and the general public in celebration of their anniversary. 

One event is May 26, when they will be participating in the Midland Memorial Day Parade. 

Looking ahead, White hopes the company can continue to promote growth, and make sure they remain good stewards of the community and the environment.

“We’re just trying to grow our businesses in order to maintain and take care of our employees that we have currently, and that we plan to hire in the future,” he says. 

“We hope to be around here for the people who look to us to be leaders in the community. We want to make sure we employ a lot of folks in the communities. That’s probably our biggest drive of wanting to be successful is in order to make sure we can take care of them.”