The ancestor of Pierce-Arrow was the George N. Pierce Company, founded by George N. Pierce (1846-1911) of Buffalo, New York, which various products including bicycles and bird-cages. In 1901 he started the George N. Pierce Motor Company, producing a small single-cylinder engine automobile, the Pierce, with some modest success. In 1903 he decided to concentrate on making a larger more luxurious auto for the upscale market, and the Pierce-Arrow was born. This proved Pierce's most successful product, and these solidly built cars with powerful engines gained much positive publicity by winning various auto races. In 1908 Pierce Motor was renamed The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Company.
In 1909 U.S. President William Howard Taft ordered two Pierce-Arrows to be used for state occasions, the first official automobiles of the White House.
Through 1914 Pierce-Arrow also produced a line of motorcycles.
The Pierce-Arrow was a status symbol, owned by many top Hollywood stars, corporate tycoons; royalty of many foreign nations had at least one Pierce-Arrow in their collections. In American luxury cars it was rivaled only by the Stutz Bearcat, then somewhat later the Duesenberg and Locomobile.
Pierce-Arrow advertisements were artistic and understated. Unusually for automobile advertising, the image of the car was in the background rather than the foreground of the picture. Usually only a portion of the automobile was visible. The Pierce-Arrow was always depicted in elegant settings.
In 1928 Studebaker acquired a controlling interest in Pierce-Arrow, although the two companies continued to maintain separate engineering and production facilities. Studebaker sold out their interest in Pierce-Arrow to a group of Buffalo businessmen in 1933.
Starting in 1936 Pierce-Arrow produced a line of camper-trailers, the Pierce-Arrow Travelodge.
In 1938 Pierce-Arrow was declared insolvent and the company was liquidated.
The Rio Grande Southern Railroad converted five Pierce-Arrow automobiles (and a couple of Buicks) into motorised railcars, effectively buses and trucks on rail wheels. The nickname Galloping Goose was soon applied to these vehicles, based on their waddling motion and honking horn. All still survive.