Lisenby, Carl A.

Born in Fresno, California, in 1888, Carl A. Lisenby was the son of A. V. Lisenby—a prominent local banker—and Emma C. (Wright) Lisenby. He was educated in Fresno’s public schools and attended the University of Southern California, where he studied literature and law before returning to Fresno to take charge of the Lisenby Manufacturing Company as its secretary, treasurer, and general manager.

Under Lisenby’s leadership, the company employed approximately seventy-five people and manufactured the Multicolor Printing Press, an globally distributed innovation with major sales offices in New York, Chicago, and other principal cities, alongside a secondary line of agricultural implements. A Past Master of Fresno Lodge No. 247, F. & A. M., and a high-ranking York and Scottish Rite Mason, Lisenby was active in the Fresno Commercial Club, Chamber of Commerce, and Merchants Association. Married in 1912 to Edith M. Niblock, with whom he had one daughter (Catherine Grace), Lisenby supported local Methodist Church activities and served on various civic committees during the World War I Liberty Loan and Red Cross drives.