Of the many horse dealers that were part of the Bull’s Head Market, the Fiss, Doerr & Carroll Horse Company was the largest and most successful. Founded in 1879 as Fiss and Doerr at 149 East 24th Street, it merged with Carroll and Connolly, another 24th Street horse dealer, in 1895. The enlarged firm purchased many of the stables on 24th Street and by the early 1900s dominated the Bull’s Head Market and had operations in Albany, Buffalo and Jersey City. The 24th Street horse market was primarily for the sale of large work and livery horses as well as carriages, but Fiss, Doerr and Carroll expanded their business to include a high-end market for coach and trotter horses. The firm had a staff of horse buyers who made purchases from breeders in the Midwest and opened a large stable on the Hudson River at 36th Street for the export of horses to Europe.
As the leading supplier of coach, livery and workhorses in New York, the Fiss, Doerr and Carroll Horse Company owned many of the stables that made up the Bull’s Head Market on East 24th Street. To improve their business, in 1906 the firm demolished several of its old wood stables to construct a new seven-story stable building and the ornate auction mart, both of which ran through the block from 24th to 25th Streets. The vertical stable included stalls for stabling horses, storage for feed, carriage and harness departments, and the main company offices. The adjacent auction mart consisted of a large, open interior two-stories high that had an arena at ground level overlooked by a suspended second floor gallery from which buyers would view horse auctions. Confident in the future of their business, the Fiss, Doerr
