Born in Ticonderoga, Horace Augustus Moses became wealthy building and acquiring a number of paper mills that he combined to form the Strathmore Paper Company. As his wealth grew, he made a series of substantial donations to many Ticonderoga projects, among which were the Valley View Cemetery Chapel, the Liberty Monument, the Moses-Ludington Hospital, the Community Building, and the Hancock House; with the last of these, he accomplished an early lifetime ambition—to establish a museum with a library that would make Ticonderoga a focal point for public interest in the region's history.