Leavitt & Peirce is founded in 1883 by partners Fred Leavitt and Waldo Peirce. Across the street from Harvard's campus, it soon becomes a gathering place where students could socialize, sample tobaccos, and avoid school responsibilities. The store is quite "clubby" in its early days, and some reports say that freshmen were banned. With its smoky atmosphere and set of billiards tables in the back, it is perceived by many (Puritans!) as a "den of iniquity".