E. A. Pierce & Co.

E. A. Pierce & Co.

Company type	Private
Industry	Securities brokerage
Predecessor	A. A. Housman & Co.
Founded	1885
Founder	William Burrill, Arthur Housman
Defunct	1940
Fate	Merged with Merrill Lynch and Cassatt & Co.
Headquarters	New York City , United States
Products	Brokerage services

E. A. Pierce & Co. was a securities brokerage enterprise headquartered in New York City. Initially established under the name A. A. Housman & Co., it adopted the name of Edward A. Pierce in 1927. In the aftermath of the stock market crash of 1929, E. A. Pierce acquired the brokerage division of Merrill Lynch in 1930, and approximately ten years later, the two firms consolidated through a merger.

History

The earliest incarnation of the company, Burrill & Housman, was created in 1885 by William Burrill and Arthur Housman. Arthur Housman, who had experience brokering for J. P. Morgan and played a role in market stabilization during the Panic of 1901, led the firm until his passing in 1907.

After William Burrill departed in 1890, Arthur’s brothers Clarence and subsequently Fred Housman joined the business, prompting a rebranding to A. A. Housman & Company. In 1901, broker Edward A. Pierce became part of the team alongside partners including Bernard Baruch. Pierce ascended to managing partner in 1921, and by 1927, the firm adopted the name E. A. Pierce & Co.

In response to the 1929 economic downturn, E. A. Pierce executed key acquisitions such as Otis & Co., C.D. Robbins & Co., and notably obtained Merrill Lynch’s brokerage operations along with prominent figures like Edmund C. Lynch and Winthrop H. Smith. By 1930, it had become the largest brokerage firm and a leading "wire house" across the United States.

During the 1930s, E. A. Pierce maintained its industry dominance by introducing IBM technology for record management and managing the most extensive wire network for trade execution, which extended over 23,000 miles of telegraph lines by 1938.

Despite holding a market-leading position, E. A. Pierce encountered financial difficulties and operated with limited capital throughout the 1930s. Following Edmund Lynch’s death in 1938, Winthrop Smith initiated merger discussions with minority shareholder Charles E. Merrill. The merger culminated on April 1, 1940, resulting in Merrill Lynch, E. A. Pierce & Cassatt—a combination of both firms plus Philadelphia-based Cassatt & Co., which was jointly owned by Merrill Lynch and E. A. Pierce.

E. A. Pierce’s primary rival was Fenner & Beane, consistently ranked as the second-largest brokerage firm; both entities merged with Merrill Lynch in 1940 to establish Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Beane.

References

• Wall Street People: True Stories of the Great Barons of Finance. John Wiley and Sons, 2003
• "No. 1 Wire House". Time, February 4, 1935.
• "Bigger Biggest". Time, November 10, 1930.