admin HENRY J. PIERCE, President of the International Railway Company, is identified with electric railroad enterprises in Buffalo and elsewhere, and is besides connected with important undertakings in the fields of finance, manufacture and general business. In electric transportation matters Mr. Pierce is favorably known both as an organizer and executive head. In other phases of business he has been equally successful in initiative and management. He has always taken an active interest in the advancement of Buffalo, and has borne a leading part in many projects having for their aim the municipal welfare and especially the commercial and industrial progress of the city.
Mr. Pierce was born in Bath, Maine, August 29th, 1857. In 1876 he came to Buffalo and in 1882 established the Wood Products Company, refiners of wood alcohol, whose plant is situated at the foot of Pennsylvania street. Mr. Pierce is President of the company, which is one of the largest enterprises in Buffalo, refining about 80 per cent, of the entire wood alcohol product of the United States. The enterprise has branch concerns in different parts of the country, but its principal plant and offices are located in this city. Mr. Pierce was one of the organizers of the Buffalo & Niagara Falls and of the Buffalo & Lockport electric railroads, and served as a Director of the International Railway Company from the time the latter corporation was formed, and in 1905 became its President. The International Railway Company was organized under the laws of this State in February, 1902, for the object of acquiring and combining the street railway lines in Buffalo with the lines extending to and into Niagara Falls, Lockport, Olcott and Onawanda, including the lines on the Canadian side of the Niagara River at Niagara Falls, and the bridges connecting the trolley lines. Numerous and valuable properties were included in this consolidation. The united length of the lines of the International Railway Company is about 360 miles. The company has three power houses, about 970 cars, and a complete modern equipment in all departments. It gives employment to over 2,000 persons. The contract between the company and the City of Buffalo provides that when the gross receipts of the electric railway corporation reach $2,000,000 it shall pay 3 percent, of the amount to the city – a provision which has been the means of realizing heavy sums to the municipality of Buffalo. A foreign electric railroad company of which Mr. Pierce is also President, is the Netherlands Tramways Corporation, which owns a system of electric railways in Holland. Mr. Pierce is a Director of the Marine National Bank and of the Security Safe Deposit Company of Buffalo; also a Director of the Lumber Insurance Company of New York City, and of J. C White & Company, New York City. He was one of the Directors of the Pan-American Exposition, also serving on the Executive Committee and as Chairman of the Concessions Committee. He is a member of the Chamber of Commerce and in 1905 was elected President of that body. During Mr. Pierce’s term of office, work on the new Chamber of Commerce Building was begun.
In the club life of Buffalo Mr. Pierce is well-known. He belongs to the Buffalo, Saturn, Ellicott and Country clubs, and in 1900 was elected President of the Buffalo Club.
SOURCE: Memorial and Family History of Erie County New York; Volume I