Richard A. Pierce was the first to develop 9th Street as an exclusive business district for the Black community. The intersection of 9th Street and 5th Avenue was called the Magic Corner for its central location and the Pierce Building was known as the Ninth Street Mecca. According to the Colored Columbus Directory and Year Book of 1926-1927, Richard A. Pierce (1877-1934) was a highly successful entrepreneur. He was the owner of this structure, which housed the Ninth Street Drug Store, an insurance office, a dental office, Ethel Spencer’s piano school, Anne Spencer’s Accessory Store, and the Pierce Auditorium, a third floor entertainment space which featured live dances and other entertainment. He also owned the Pierce Pocket Billiard Parlor and more than eighty tenant dwellings. He was the largest Black property owner in Columbus in his time.

Like the neighboring Sconiers Building, the Pierce Office Building is a landmark of Black Columbus and should be considered for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places. Richard Pierce and John L. Sconiers were pioneers in Black business in the Jim Crow era, and succeeded in spite of the challenges that were inherent to their interests.