Annie "Knowles" Fisher (December 3, 1867 – June 11, 1938) was a cook, caterer and entrepreneur. Annie lived in

Columbia, Missouri Columbia is a city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It is the county seat of Boone County and home to the University of Missouri. Founded in 1821, it is the principal city of the five-county Columbia metropolitan area. It is Missouri's fourth ...

, and worked for prominent families as a cook until she started her own catering business. Annie became famous in

Missouri Missouri is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. Ranking List of U.S. states and territories by area, 21st in land area, it is bordered by eight states (tied for the most with Tennessee ...

for her widely sold

beaten biscuit Beaten biscuits are a Southern food from the United States, dating from the 19th century. They differ from regular American soft-dough biscuits in that they are more like hardtack. In New England they are called "sea biscuits", as they were st ...

s. Through her cooking, Annie amassed a sizable fortune and purchased rental properties and farms in and around Boone County.

Early life

Annie "Knowles" Fisher was born on December 3, 1867, in Boone County. She was one of eleven children born to former slaves Robert and Charlotte Knowles . From an early age, Annie was put in charge of cooking for the family. Although Annie attended school for a short time, she eventually quit school to help support her family. Annie found her love of cooking while working in kitchens of wealthy white families in the Columbia area. She was paid little and received second hand clothing as one of the "perks" of the job. Annie noted later in life for a newspaper article that although she was grateful for the second hand clothing, she wanted to make a good living so that she could afford new clothes. Annie went to work for the Lenoir-Nifong family of Maplewood. In 1890, Annie began to work for George Bingham Rollins and the

Sigma Alpha Epsilon Sigma Alpha Epsilon (), commonly known as SAE, is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity. It was founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is t ...

fraternity at the

University of Missouri The University of Missouri (Mizzou, MU, or Missouri) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Columbia, Missouri. It is Missouri's largest university and the flagship of the four-campus Universit ...

Cooking, catering and entrepreneurship

Annie saved most of the money she made cooking to start her catering business which she operated out of her restaurant, the Wayside Inn, which was located at the site of her childhood home behind Grindstone schoolhouse. She reportedly had over 1,000 place settings of china and handled many large catered events for the

. For one of her largest banquets at an alumni dinner for the

, she was paid $1,200, two dollars per plate. Annie's beaten biscuits became so popular that Missourians who had moved out of state would mail order her biscuits to be delivered to states as far away as

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. Annie cooked in what she referred to as, "old Missouri style," which meant she used local ingredients to give her food a distinct flavor. Her cooking became so popular that she began endorsing local businesses such as the Boone County Mill's H-P flour which she used in her famous biscuits. In 1911, a Sedalia hostess who handled catering for the

Missouri State fair The Missouri State Fair is the state fair for the state of Missouri, which has operated since 1901 in Sedalia, Missouri. It includes daily concerts, exhibits and competitions of animals, homemade crafts, shows, and many food/lemonade stands, and ...

made sure Fisher's biscuits were on the presidential table for

William Howard Taft William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857March 8, 1930) was the 27th president of the United States (1909–1913) and the tenth chief justice of the United States (1921–1930), the only person to have held both offices. Taft was elected pr ...

's visit. Fisher's ingenuity didn't end in the kitchen; she invented a specific cutter for her biscuits that would keep them from sticking to the surface of the cutter. After Fisher's mail order business had taken off, she incorporated a biscuit brake to meet the demand for her biscuits. In a news article, Fisher reported she usually made around one million biscuits a year and around 50 dozen biscuits every hour with the help from her daughter. By 1919, Fisher was making $500 a month on biscuits alone at 15 cents a dozen. Using the profits from her cooking and catering businesses, Fisher bought her first house in 1901 and paid it off in two years. After her first property purchase, Fisher went on to buy 18 rental properties in the downtown Columbia area, most of which were along what is now Ash Street and Fifth Street. Later after Fisher's catering business had become quite successful, she purchased a 58-acre farm outside of Columbia where she raised livestock and crops to use in her cooking.

"Old Missouri Style" Beaten Biscuit recipe

Fisher's recipe included 1 quart of sifted flour, 1/3 cup of pure lard, 1/3 cup of butter, 1 cup of sweetened water, and salt to taste. Ingredients are mixed thoroughly and beaten for 15 minutes to make biscuits light and fluffy. Fisher said beating the biscuits was meant to, "put life into them." Annie_Fisher_Biscuit_Recipe

Personality

Fisher was considered by those who met her to be a strong, witty businesswoman who was not afraid to speak her mind. In 1919, Fisher gave a speech at a meeting of the

National Negro Business League The National Negro Business League (NNBL) was an American organization founded in Boston in 1900 by Booker T. Washington to promote the interests of African-American businesses. The mission and main goal of the National Negro Business League was ...

. In her speech, Fisher told those assembled how to make a profit from catering and about her life growing up. She said she was a 57-year-old woman who was not afraid to tell her age. Fisher was a celebrated personality in Columbia, with multiple articles written about her in the

University Missourian The ''University Missourian'' newspaper ran from 1908 to 1916. This newspaper started the same year the University of Missouri School of Journalism opened. The ''University Missourian'' provided practical experience for writing articles for journ ...

. One particularly interesting article was her suggestions for Thanksgiving dinner. Fisher rented her properties out to black families who couldn't find housing easily in 1913. Annie gave out her recipes freely, but noted that she could not teach the common sense needed to cook her food. In a 1927 article in the Springfield Leader, Fisher's estimated net worth was approximately $100,000.

Personal life

In 1907, Fisher divorced her husband William and offered him a little over 100 dollars to not contest the divorce in court. William refused and was awarded nothing by the court system. Fisher said that her marriage wasn't a success and that for her to be successful she had to believe in herself and no one else. Fisher put her daughter Lucille through college and a music conservatory with the profits from her catering business. Fisher's first home was a 16-room house on Park Avenue which stood until 1960. In the 1920s she had a house built along Old Highway 63. During construction, she bought the materials, hired her own workers, and stayed on the property in a tent to oversee construction. Fisher was buried in a modest grave in 1938 at the Memorial Park Cemetery in Columbia. How_Biscuits_paid_for_education

Legacy

Annie Fisher's legacy lives on during

black history month Black History Month is an annual observance originating in the United States, where it is also known as African-American History Month. It has received official recognition from governments in the United States and Canada, and more recently ...

when a Columbia woman dresses as Fisher and visits schools to share her story with children to share with them how local African American's have helped to shape the history of Boone County. The Annie Fisher food pantry is operated by the Columbia Housing authority, the goal of this local food pantry is to provide nutritional options for growing families and is supplied by the

Food bank A food bank is a non-profit, charitable organization that distributes food to those who have difficulty purchasing enough to avoid hunger, usually through intermediaries like food pantries and soup kitchens. Some food banks distribute food direc ...

of Central and Northeastern Missouri.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fisher, Annie 1867 births 1938 deaths Burials at Memorial Park Cemetery (Columbia, Missouri) People from Boone County, Missouri People from Columbia, Missouri Restaurants in Columbia, Missouri African Americans in Columbia, Missouri African-American women in business American women in business American women restaurateurs American restaurateurs 20th-century African-American people 20th-century African-American women