KREAMER, Pa. -- Wood-Mode was not only known as Snyder County's largest employer, it was one of the oldest as well. The cabinet manufacturer was in business for 77 years. For much of that time, business was booming.
"It really was a product of the war. They built pigeon coops," Bob Garrett said.
Wood-Mode opened in 1942 as Wood-Metal. In 1958, the company changed its name to Wood-Mode because most of the installations were wood, not metal. It continued to grow and expand throughout the years.
"You come out of school, whether it be Selinsgrove or Midd-West and you weren't sure what you were going to do. Dad worked at Wood-Mode, spoke highly of Wood-Mode, so you went to work at Wood-Mode," Dave Herbert said.
Not only does Wood-Mode have a lot of history in this community, it has a lot of history with people's families as well.
"My father actually had the first prototype Wood-Mode kitchen in his house," Don Yerger said.
Don Yerger worked at Wood-Mode for 44 years. Four generations of his family worked here, and he says his father was Wood-Mode's first employee.
"Basically, asked if he wanted a job. He said sure, thought it was another sign painting job. They said take that sign down you're working for us now," Yerger said.
Dave Herbert's father was one of Wood-Mode's first truck drivers.
"'57 when they started doing more national (business) is when he took a load to Florida. It was the first time they went out of the Mid-Atlantic area," Herbert said.
"A Wood-Mode kitchen is the gold standard. We're going to have to find another gold standard," Garrett said.
One man tells us 90 percent of the people he knows worked at Wood-Mode, and it will be hard to imagine life without it.