Waldo Peirce was born December 17, 1884, in Bangor, Maine, to Mellen Chamberlain Peirce and Anna Hayford. His father was a Bangor lumber baron. Peirce had three siblings, an older brother and a younger sister and brother. He attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, and graduated in 1903. He then attended Harvard University and, by his own account, barely graduated due to copious amounts of time spent in the local pool hall and other trivial pursuits. Although Peirce always identified with the Class of 1907, the exact year of his graduation is not clear, and he may have received his diploma in either 1908 or 1909. Peirce was a large man for his time, and he was drafted onto the Harvard football team, solely, he said, because of his size. He played the center position. After Harvard, Peirce studied art at the Art Students League in New York City, and later, traveled to Europe where he studied at both the Académie Julian in Paris and with the Spanish artist Ignacio Zuloaga. He initially focused on Impressionism.