Hours of Operation
Open Thursday, Friday & Saturday
11 am to 4 pm
Admission
$10 – Children (12 & under)
$20 – Adults
$20 – Seniors
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About the Exhibit
Buffalo’s Luxury Automaker
In the 1870s, The George N. Pierce Company was known for expert craftsmanship that went into household items, such as bird cages and ice chests. It evolved to produce innovative bicycles, then motorcycles and one-cylinder automobiles.
Demand grew, and ground was broken on April 26, 1906 for a new manufacturing facility. Pierce moved into the 1,500,000 sq. ft. factory on Elmwood Avenue, once the site of the Pan-American Exposition.
Pierce-Arrow manufactured luxury automobiles for an affluent market. Powerful, ornate, artistic and sophisticated, they symbolized wealth and status. Pierce-Arrows automobiles were the official White House vehicle for presidents from Howard Taft to Franklin D. Roosevelt, and the vehicle of choice for John D. Rockefeller, J. Edgar Hoover, Orville Wright, and Babe Ruth.
A Legacy of Innovation
Pierce-Arrow was renowned for its innovations, such as the distinctive fender light designed by Herbert Dawley in 1914. Dawley was recruited by Charles Clifton after entering a public design contest, and was also responsible for creating the iconic Helmeted Archer hood ornament.
The company created Travelodge trailers, complete with gas stoves, ice chests, water tanks, and dining areas. The Boyce MotoMeter, patented in 1912, was used in automobiles to give drivers information about engine temperature while operating the car. Motometers, at first aftermarket devices, were later standard or optional. They became unnecessary when dash-mounted temperature gauges appeared around 1930. The Museum has a large collection of automobile mascots and motometers on display.
During WWI, over 12,500 trucks were produced by the Pierce-Arrow factory for use by Allied troops. At this time in 1915, Pierce-Arrow employed over 10,000 men and women in Buffalo, NY, and boasted they used more aluminum than any country in the world.
