The J. & W. Fisher Company

The Fishers' tent store opened in a town that had just moved. Big Spring began in the late 1870s near the spring itself, as a settlement of hide huts and saloons for buffalo hunters. When the Texas and Pacific built through in 1880, it followed Sulphur Draw several miles north of the spring, and the community moved to the tracks, where the railroad put its shops and a station. Howard County organized in 1882 with Big Spring as county seat, and that year the post office and the first general store opened.

What the plaque says

The J. & W. Fisher Company In 1881, as Big Spring was being established, Joseph Fisher (1845-1906), born in Austria, opened a general store in a tent. William (1855-1932), a brother, joined him in 1883. They had a trade territory as large as four New England states. Their free delivery pushcart doubled at times as the city hearse. The firm served as the first local bank, sometimes open until 2:00 a.m., to cash paychecks. The Fishers aided farmers and ranchers, often carrying debtors for years. Their generosity benefited fraternal orders, schools, and churches. The store was closed in 1941. (1976)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Hotel Settles — steps away
  Big Spring's fifteen-story hotel of 1930, built on ranch oil money, once the tallest building between Fort Worth and El Paso, empty and roosted in by pigeons for decades and now restored.
• Big Spring State Park — 1.8 mi
  A CCC drive looping up Scenic Mountain, a 200-foot bluff above the town that grew around the only dependable spring within sixty miles of open Llano country.
• Hangar 25 Air Museum — 2.9 mi
  A restored World War II hangar on the old air base above Big Spring, telling the story of the bombardier school of 1942 and of Webb Air Force Base, which trained pilots until 1977.

More markers nearby

• Howard County — steps away
• First National Bank in Big Spring — steps away
• First Christian Church of Big Spring — 0.7 mi
• Big Spring School District — 0.9 mi