The White Building was constructed by Bloomington businessman Samuel R. White in 1894-1895. White came to Bloomington in 1870 by way of Huntington, Indiana, at a time when Bloomington was already an economic center with railroads leaving in eight directions from the city. in 1872 White, a building contractor, established himself as an independent contractor and constructed various buildings around the Bloomington and other Illinois cities, including the First Ward School in Bloomington and the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago. In 1873 White founded a coal company and lumber yard. White founded S.R. White Manufacturing in 1878; it eventually became one of Bloomington's leading manufacturers. The company began manufacturing residential furniture in an old mill located on Bloomington's Douglas Street but by 1883 they had occupied new facilities (a planing mill and factory across the street) and started to focus on the manufacture of sashes, doors, blinds and finished lumber. White's company was hit by two fires from 1884-1887 and the entrepreneur was forced to rebuild a safer, brick structure. White's factory was eventually expanded and it became the mill for the furniture store that White founded in 1894-1895 with the completion of the White Building.