State Farm history

In 1926, a subsidiary, the City and Village Automobile Insurance Company, was formed.

In January 1929, the company formed a subsidiary, State Farm Life Insurance Company, which, like its parent company, has flourished.

In its on-site museum, is a restored 1935 Mack Fire Truck, which symbolizes the beginning of the State Farm Fire and Casualty Company.

State Farm Mutual Automobile Insurance Company, the cornerstone in the State Farm Insurance Companies group, has been the number one automobile insurer in the United States since 1942.

In March of 1944, in spite of the war, State Farm had one million auto insurance policies in effect.

In 1946 State Farm began losing $1 million a month.

As part of a restructuring plan, branch offices were established in 1947, the first of which opened in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and a committee was appointed to restructure the overcrowded and disorganized Bloomington home office.

shriftgiesser, karl. the farmer from merna. new york, ny: random house, 1955.

1961: State Farm Life and Accident Assurance Company is incorporated to serve New York, Connecticut, and Wisconsin.

In 1963, the company instituted monthly premium payments, and agents were authorized to make on-the-spot auto claim payments of up to $250, which improved customer service considerably.

In 1965 it entered the health insurance business, having already begun life and home insurance subsidiaries decades before.

In 1966, an advanced computer system was installed, linking regional offices to headquarters in Bloomington.

State Farm made headlines with its $30 million refund to policyholders as a result of high earnings in 1971.

As an article in The Wall Street Journal, June 14, 1976 stated, “State Farm’s whole history is one of turning the insurance industry upside down and coming out on top.”

State Farm claimed its conservatism was practical and necessary; CEO Edward B. Rust, Jr., told Business Week, August 21, 1989, “When it comes to claim time, customers don’t want an IOU.”

By 1993, natural disasters such as earthquakes and hurricanes had left most in the insurance industry scrambling to get their finances back on track.

In 1994 State Farm collected $23.2 billion in premiums and returned $206 million in dividends.

In 1995 premiums were $24.1 billion, and dividends were $1 million.

In 1996, due to underwriting losses in the previous years such as those associated with the Northridge, California earthquake, no dividends were returned on premiums of $24.7 billion.

niedzielski, joe. "state farm explores move to form or buy bank." national underwriter, 27 january 1997.

Then, in 1998, the firm was forced to pay $200 million in a class action suit that claimed State Farm life insurance agents had used misleading sales tactics.

During 2001--the company's third largest catastrophe year in its history--State Farm faced several challenges.

During 2002, State Farm continued to focus on restructuring its operations as well as increasing its reach in the financial services sector.

It promoted Allstate's good-driver discount and touted statistics showing that people who switched to Allstate saved $200 a year on average. Its "Our Stand" campaign, featuring actor Dennis Haysbert, who played the United States president in the hit television series 24, began in November 2003.

The 30-second television spots were first shown during baseball's World Series, which was telecast on the Fox network on October 23, 2004.

State Farm began to reverse the trend of losing market share, and in 2005 the company exceeded its sales quota by a large margin.

State Farm was pleased enough with the campaign to continue producing new television spots, including one that first aired during the pregame show for the 2006 Super Bowl.