[3] Edwin started his business in 1849 in Boston, as a seller of household items and entrepreneur, and acquired skills which later helped him in establishing the burglar alarm industry.

[2][4] Edwin Holmes acquired Pope's patent rights in 1857 for US$1500[5] and manufactured the device in his factory in Boston, Massachusetts.

His son Edwin Thomas Holmes took over his father's company after his death and documented the events in his biography, A Wonderful Fifty Years.

Therefore, in 1859, in search of a new and bigger market Holmes moved his business to New York, which was then perceived as a place where "all the country's burglars made their home".

The American Telephone and Telegraph Company bought the Holmes Burglar business in 1905, linking it to emergency call systems for contacting police and fire fighting personnel.