Fisher College - Beacon Yearbook (Boston, MA)

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Boston School

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emma THE FISHER SCHOOL HISTORY Forty years ago two normal school graduates from the Middle West, after having taught in private business schools, brought into existence a dream of theirs — a business school in the suburbs of Boston. These two pioneers were E. H. and M. C. Fisher. In 1903 they established the iirst coeduca- tional institution of its kind in Somerville, calling it the Winter Hill Business College. Its start was simple and inauspicious; yet, within three years more than 200 students attended the regular day sessions. Because of its rapid growth between the years 1903 and 1910 three other institutions of similar type were opened in Roxbury, Cambridge, and Waltham. The Fisher name still reposes in brass on the sidewalk in Roxbury. In 1918 the Somerville school, originally established at Oilman Square, was moved to the top of Winter Hill — the Pendergast Estate at 374 Broadway was purchased as a permanent home. The four schools continued to grow. However, between 1925 and 1927 population and transportation trends, deaths, and fires produced the necessity for combining some of the schools. For these reasons quarters were procured at 30 Franklin Street, opposite Filene ' s, and during those years the three outlying schools in Roxbury, Cambridge, and Waltham came together to form the Boston school. Mr. Sanford Fisher joined the faculty of the Boston school in 1928. Mr. Albert Fisher assumed the managerial responsibili- ties of the Somerville school, and Mr. Myron Fisher, Jr., became head of the typing and office practice departments of the Boston school in 1935. These are Mr. M. C. Fisher ' s three sons. In 1936 the school was changed from a partnership known as Fisher Business College to an educational corporation known as Fisher Business School. Sanford L. Fisher became President; Myron C. Fisher, Jr., Vice- President; and Albert L. Fisher, Treasurer. E. H. and M. C. remained as Principals. After 1936 the Winter Hill School was operated exclusively for girls, while the Boston School continued to be coeducational. Cultural and social activities came to be l ooked upon as a necessary and indispensable part of a well-rounded education, and in the minds of the Directors of the School, the Boston location was not considered adequate for such training. In June, 1939, the beautiful King Estate at 118 Beacon Street overlooking the Charles River and the Hatch Concert Shell was pur- chased. Unusual and artistic appointments laid a background for the blending of the vocational with the cultural. This was the School ' s second attractive building, and placed Fisher in a position to present secre- tarial training on the hignest possible levels. Then, in 1940, the Boston School followed the trend of the Somerville School — that of becoming a strictly girls ' institution. No more boys were graduated after October 1942. After this change, each school was known as The Fisher School. In 1940 Fisher sought to better serve its community and established a Summer Preparatory School in our Winter Hill School home. This enabled high school students to make up or to take additional credits for high school or college. It is now in its fifth season and enjoys the largest registration in its short history. This past year showed that students from eighty-nine high schools and colleges from sixteen states were represented in our student body. To properly administer to the needs of so many of these young people from out of town and out of state, the school purchased its own dormitory at 112 Beacon Street just three doors away from the school. It will give our young people a home atmosphere and will also afford the school the privilege of developing broader social and cultural programs for these young people. The past years have shown a fine accep- tance of the school in the New England area. This is due in part at least to the desire on the part of the school to be completely atuned to contemporary trends, to anticipate the need of the morrow and to be ready for it. In this spirit, determination is still strong that Fisher students will have the best in educational, social, and cultural develop- ments.

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Myron C. Fisher, B. A. Principal