Fisk Enjoys 95 years of Electrifying Growth

Ninety five years ago, our founder, John R. Fisk, armed with a mere twenty-five dollars, began what is now an industry leading electrical, structured cabling and building technologies integrator that offers a single-source for design, installation and continuous maintenance of integrated building technology solutions. We owe our culture for quality and our current success to a near century of hard work and entrepreneurial spirit – all beginning with a man working out of his father's shed.

Electricity arrived in the city of Houston in 1899 in the form of one 1.5 megawatt generator. That is enough to power about 75 typical homes today. Fourteen years later, a tall, young, Houstonian named John Fisk, founded Fisk Electric Company.

John started working out of a shed in a neighborhood community known as “the Heights” located northwest of downtown Houston. Each day John would carry a roll of wire, his ladder and cutters on a streetcar to install power wiring in houses and buildings that were previously illuminated by natural gas.

John Fisk’s work ethic and quality results earned him a solid reputation. As more uses for electricity developed such as fans, elevators, pumps, and appliances, the business grew. A vintage electrical contractor's license dating back to 1927 awarded by the City of Houston hangs in the Fisk Electric corporate offices today. John Fisk became signatory to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) in the early 1920's. Fisk Electric remains a union electrical contractor.

In 1936, Fisk Electric Company performed the electrical installation for the 570-ft. San Jacinto Monument. The towering column commemorates the April 21, 1836 Battle of San Jacinto where Texas won it’s independence. On the heels of the Great Depression and into the early 1940's, Fisk provided electrical work on a number of municipal projects.

Between 1954 and 1970, Fisk Electric established offices in Dallas, San Antonio and New Orleans. In 1962, Fisk was awarded the electrical contract for the Houston Astrodome, which opened in 1965 and was billed as the “Eighth Wonder of the World.”

The 1970's brought telephone deregulation and another business opportunity for Fisk Electric. Lloyd Davis started Fisk Telephone Company and began competing with Southwestern Bell and AT&T. As the business progressed astronaut James Lovell joined Fisk to serve as president of Fisk Telephone Systems as it grew exponentially.

The Houston Medical Center has grown into the largest collection of hospital and research buildings in the world. Fisk has played key role in the construction of electrical and technology systems for all the major Hospital Campuses located in the medical center.

Fisk also ventured into international contracting including several hotels in Cairo, Egypt, and a complete university campus in Saudi Arabia.

In 1987 Fisk established a regional office in Las Vegas and worked on several major casino/hotel resorts, including the Luxor, MGM Grand, and the Venetian. This office has continued to grow and is currently involved in several major projects in Las Vegas, most noteably the 10 billion dollar City Centre Project.

In 2004 Larry Brookshire re-acquired Fisk from Tyco. Part of the repurchase involved some restructuring of the Corporate and Houston offices to ensure growth for the next one hundred years. Ken Orlowski joined Fisk in 2005 as President and Chief Operating Officer.

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