Born in Belleville, Illinois, William A. Fisher came to Minnesota in 1860. At the beginning of the Civil War he enlisted with the F company of the Minnesota Volunteers. After the war ended he settled on a farm in Brooklyn Center. A few years later he came to Minneapolis and went to work commanding a steamboat from Minneapolis to Monticello. Mr. Fisher tired of the transportation business and opened as restaurant and hostelry known as Fisher’s Hotel. He spent a couple years engaged in the commission business before he opened the Waverly Hotel.
Fisher married Mary Ann Smith in 1889 and built his hotel on Harmon and 11th the same year. The hotel added 20 rooms in 1896 and 12 rooms with privates baths and telephones in 1900. The couple added five children, In 1908 the hotel advertised 17 suites with private baths, 26 single rooms with bath, 12 single room with hot and cold water and 26 single rooms without water. There was a public bath on every floor. The Waverly was electric lighted from top to bottom. Children with properly trained parents were permitted. Perfectly house trained dos were not. Fisher was a member of the John A. Rawlin’s post of G.A.R. and a prominent member of the Hotel Men’s Association and a state representative. After running the Waverly Hotel for over 20 years William A. Fisher was passed away in 1911. The Waverly hotel was razed to build a Firestone Service Station in 1930.
