In 1876 Melville Dewey started the Readers’ and Writers’ Economy Company, later renamed the Library Bureau. The company’s purpose was to furnish and equip libraries with furniture that conformed to the new American Library Association standards. Dewey, the “Father of Modern Librarianship,” is perhaps best knows for his invention of the decimal classification system that bears his name.

The Herkimer plant continued to produce library furniture throughout a series of mergers. It eventually ended up as the Mohawk Valley Community Corporation. Pioneer Millworks salvaged more than 85,000 board feet of heavy hemlock timbers from the structure.