Gerrit Verschuur was brought on as Fiske's first director in 1971. James Sharp, an engineer from Strasenburgh Planetarium, oversaw the building design, organized the planetarium staff, and built auxiliary systems for Fiske. The planetarium was dedicated on Sept 19th, 1975, with doors opening to the public the following day. Opening shows included "Stardeath", a short film about supernovae written by Verschuur, and "Quaking Aspens", a visual art program by photographer Gary Metz. Fiske is a sister-facility to Sommers-Bausch Observatory.