Bill Henderson attended Purdue University in the 1950s on an agriculture scholarship. Following his time at Purdue, he began building houses until he eventually focused his efforts on constructing high-quality livestock facilities. It was during his career as a builder that he began collaborating with his wife, Carolyn, on building insulated and non-insulated curtains for the buildings he created. In 1983, the couple founded American Agra Curtains and the following year received a patent for their insulated Mar-Co-Lite curtain.