The auto manufacturer, Pierce-Arrow was established
in Buffalo, New York and in production from 1901- 1938.
The company manufactured fire trucks, commercial trucks,
camp trailers, bicycles and motorcycles,
but its enduring legacy was
expensive luxury cars.
Nationally known notables owning Pierce-Arrows were:
Babe Ruth, John D. Rockefeller,
President Roosevelt, Mrs. Andrew Carnegie, John Ringling, Emperor Hirohito of Japan,
Orville Wright and Ginger Rogers.
George N. Pierce bought the Heinz,
Pierce and Munschaurer Company,
best known for household goods and gilded bird cages in 1872
and began the Pierce line of automobiles in 1901.
The first Pierce had a single- cylinder two-speed engine
with no reverse. A twocylinder model was built in 1904
and named the Arrow.
The luxurious, upscale version
was created in 1903 and in 1908
the Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company was born.
Pierce Arrow was the first official car of the White House
in 1903 ordered by U.S. President William Howard Taft.
Woodrow Wilson and Warren G. Harding
rode in an open-bodied Pierce Arrow to attend Harding’s 1921 inauguration and a 1919 Pierce Arrow is on view today
at the Wilson presidential library.
The car sold for $10,000 during the lean American years
of the depression and those who retained their wealth
were reluctant to spend that much on a car.
With no lower priced model in production to provide cash flow,
the company declared insolvency in 1938
