In 1883 Mr. Fischer was on the Joplin School Board, in 1884 was associated with the Granby Mining & Smelting Co. as a cashier and secretary, and was Joplin City Clerk in 1887-1888.
Mr. Fischer was infamously known as the man that lost the election of Jasper County Clerk to Mrs. Annie Baxter by a very wide margin in November 1890. She was the first woman elected to office and first woman elected as a county clerk—30 years before women could even vote! He planned to contest the election claiming she was not a citizen even though the “male citizen” requirement had been stricken a short time before. In December 1890 he ultimately decided not to contest Mrs. Baxter because he was appointed to be the Deputy Circuit Clerk of the Joplin office. Newspapers across the U.S. and even Canada reported that the election should not be contested based on her sex. Various newspapers wrote: He is mean and the type of man that would not hesitate to drown a widow woman’s dog; Mr. Fischer is a galoot; He ought to go and soak his head in a beer keg!
Originally a farmhouse, the current façade is an historic alteration, with Tudor elements applied to the original I-House Form.
Katherine J. (Foley) Douthat House
