Cox & Stevens began in yacht design and commercial brokerage in New York City in 1905 with original principal partners Daniel H. Cox, Irving Cox, and marine engineer Colonel Edwin Augustus Stevens. Daniel was also concurrently in partnership with William Francis Gibbs, and after a company reorganization in 1932, the firm of Gibbs & Cox, Inc., took on all the commercial work, while Cox & Stevens retained the yacht design work. Philip L. Rhodes became associated with the firm by 1934, and after the death of head designer, marine engineer, and vice president Bruno Tornroth in 1935, Rhodes became head naval architect for the firm. In 1946 the firm of Philip L. Rhodes succeeded Cox & Stevens Inc., and the business ceased altogether with the death of Philip L. Rhodes in 1974.