Allsteel was founded in 1912 as Allsteelequip Company and started out manufacturing custom metal objects, especially electrical equipment.

In the 1920s, the company began to branch out and started producing kitchen cabinets and refrigerated food lockers.

To complete its line of office furniture, All-Steel-Equip bought the Shepherd Chair Company of Melrose Park, Illinois and redesigned their products.

All-Steel-Equip pioneered the lateral file in 1967,[2] with production beginning in 1969, and it became a huge commercial success.

Allsteel was bought and sold by a number of different holding companies and finally merged into HNI Corporation in 1998.