The Travelers Companies history

In February 1854 the company issued its first policy, a mutual policy for $800.

The St Paul sustained its first fire loss in April 1855 when a row of offices and a bakery burned to the ground, resulting in $3,000 in claims.

The Travelers Insurance Company was founded in Hartford by a stone contractor, James Batterson, who became aware for the first time of accident insurance for travelers (i.e., an early form of travel insurance) while traveling in England in 1859 from Leamington to London.

A period of stagnation occurred starting in 1861, during the Civil War.

Public Company Incorporated: 1863 as The Travelers Insurance CompanyEmployees: 35,000Assets: $56.75 billionStock Exchanges: New York Pacific London

On March 1, 1864, local banker James Bolter jokingly inquired of Batterson how much it would cost to insure him up to $5,000 for accidental death for the journey from the post office to his home.

He was succeeded by James C. Burbank, the company's first full-time president, in April 1865.

A shareholder-elected board voted to pay semiannual dividends, and in July 1867 the company issued its first stock dividend, of $1.50 per share.

The red umbrella first appeared in Travelers advertising as early as 1870, but at that time was not yet the official logo.

1871 The St Paul enhances its reputation by paying, in full, all claims from the Great Chicago Fire.

Shortly thereafter The St Paul was faced with the insurance price war of 1877.

Employer’s liability, a predecessor of workers’ compensation, was first sold in the United States by a British company in 1885.

In buying the Baltimore-based USF&G, a firm founded in 1896, The St Paul propelled itself from the 13th to the eighth largest property and casualty insurer in the nation.

In 1897 Travelers wrote its first automobile policy.

By the time Batterson died in 1901, Travelers also offered health, liability, and automotive insurance, at a time when many insurers still restricted themselves to a single line of insurance.

Before 1902 the company’s agents were responsible for selling policies, recruiting agents, and for performing administrative chores.

In 1903 the first class of 12 agents began training at the industry’s first vocational school, started by Travelers.

The San Francisco Earthquake and Fire of 1906 took a heavy toll on The St Paul's new product development plans, however.

He started his career at Travelers as an office boy for J. G. Batterson, and was soon promoted to actuary, and, in 1907, secretary of the company.

Group insurance, which would later make up a substantial segment of Travelers’s business, was introduced in 1913, written for the employees of the Ohio Electric Railway Company.

In 1917 The St Paul covered the loss of 260 vessels, totaling more than $4 million, most of which was repaid by Germany over 50 years.

After World War I, in May 1919, the Travelers introduced a comprehensive aviation insurance program which included life, public liability, workers’ compensation, and passenger accident policies.

Travelers also published one of the first aviation-safety publications, Airplanes and Safety, in 1920.

The St Paul's leadership decided, therefore, that a liability company was needed, and in 1926 a subsidiary, St Paul Mercury Indemnity Company, was formed.

When the stock market crashed in 1929, many institutional investors were ruined.

One such incident occurred in 1933, when a policyholder sent a letter to the company threatening to kill himself unless Travelers agreed to loan him one-third of his policy’s face value for three years at 5%. The letter gave instructions to reply in the public notices section of The New York Times.

After serving as The St Paul's president for 27 years, Frederic Bigelow became chairman in 1938, and Charles F. Codere became The St Paul's fifth president.

In 1948 Codere became chairman, and A. B. Jackson was elected The St Paul's new president.

Weill was born to Polish immigrants and was the first in his family to earn a college degree, graduating from Cornell University in 1955.

1956: *Established a weather research center.

In 1957 a building was dedicated to an education center, and a dormitory, Denniston Hall, named for the first instructor housed the students.

In 1958 Travelers opened its first suburban neighborhood branch office, near Atlanta, Georgia.

In the ten years after the war, accidents increased 30%, and the cost of bodily injury claims rose 86%. Travelers began losing money on its automobile liability lines until 1959, when the company began basing insurance rates on a driver’s safety record.

Travelers introduced its logo—a red umbrella to symbolize protection—in 1960.

1961: *Introduced a new coverage option for electronic data processing.

When Codere retired in 1963, Jackson succeeded him and Ronald M. Hubbs became The St Paul's next president.

By 1964 Western Life sales had more than doubled.

In 1965 the company was renamed The Travelers Corporation.

In 1967 The Travelers entered the mutual funds business when it opened the Travelers Equities Fund.

The company’s diversification served as a buffer in 1968 when property and casualty underwritings lost $64 million.

In 1969 Sterling Tooker resigned as president and CEO of The Travelers Corporation and was succeeded by Roger C. Wilkins.

In 1970 St Paul Guardian Insurance Company was formed to market personal lines of insurance.

In 1971 Morrison H. Beach became The Travelers’ president and Roger Wilkins became chairman.

Two years later St Paul Investment Management Company, an investment management firm, was started, and in 1973 St Paul Life Insurance Company, whose purpose was to market life insurance through independent agents representing St Paul Fire and Marine, was formed.

He became senior vice president in charge of the property and casualty business in 1974.

In 1980 Chairman Drake refocused mainly on insurance-related businesses.

Morrison Beach became chairman, and remained CEO until 1981.

Following his retirement, he concentrated on his longtime philanthropic endeavours, including the National Academy Foundation, a network of career academies for high school students, which he had founded in 1982.

Under a new president, Robert J. Haugh, these divestitures were completed by 1984, when The St Paul's net loss was $210 million.

Instead he started over, buying the Commercial Credit division of Control Data Corporation in 1986.

In 1987 Travelers suffered a substantial second-quarter loss of $337 million because of doubtful real estate investments it had made in the Southwest.

In 1988 Travelers began cost-cutting measures through staff reductions; 465 employees were dismissed, another 420 left voluntarily.

In 1989, however, the travelers lost about $18 million on its HMOs, and sold five HMOs for $1 each.

On May 1, 1990, Haugh retired and was replaced by The St Paul's new chairman, president, and CEO, Douglas W. Leatherdale, who continued the company's strategy for an increasing presence in the European market.

The new company, using the name Primerica, acquired Travelers Insurance and repurchased Shearson from American Express during 1992–93.

In August 1993 the St Paul Personal & Business unit was bolstered through the $420 million purchase of Economy Fire & Casualty from Kemper Corporation.

Results for 1996 were not nearly so rosy, as the company suffered its second worst catastrophe losses in history, $207 million, stemming in large part from an East Coast blizzard, flooding in the West and Southwest, and Hurricane Fran.

In October 1997 he gained widespread attention for Travelers Group’s $9 billion purchase of Salomon Inc., parent company of the prestigious Salomon Brothers investment bank.

When the proposed merger was announced in April 1998, the news stunned the financial industry, but the decision was in step with Weill’s reputation as a corporate visionary who was as savvy as he was fearless.

Thus, the merger was able to be completed, and in 1999 Weill became cochairman and co-CEO of Citigroup, then the largest financial services company in the world.

By 2000 Weill was the sole chairman and CEO of Citigroup.

2001 The St Paul's losses stemming from the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001 total $941 million.

On the downside, The St Paul reached a settlement in a legacy asbestos case inherited through the takeover of USF&G. In mid-2002 the company settled a case involving Western Asbestos, agreeing to a $987 million payment, which resulted in a net charge of $380 million for 2002.

In 2003, Travelers bought renewal rights for Royal & SunAlliance Personal Insurance and Commercial businesses.

In 2004, the St Paul and Travelers Companies merged and renamed itself St Paul Travelers, with the headquarters set in St Paul, Minnesota.

In late 2005 Fishman succeeded Lipp as chairman.

In March 2006 the Wall Street Journal reported that St Paul Travelers was in the early stages of discussing a takeover of Zurich Financial Services, one of Europe's largest insurers and a firm that was also a major United States property and casualty insurer.

In 2007, the company changed its corporate name to The Travelers Companies and repurchased the rights to the famous red umbrella logo from Citigroup.

On June 8, 2009, Travelers replaced its former parent Citigroup on the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

In November 2010, Travelers entered into a joint venture agreement under which the company would invest in J. Malucelli Participações em Seguros e Resseguros S.A., the market leader in the surety insurance business in Brazil.

The transaction closed in June 2011 with Travelers acquiring a 43.4 percent interest.

At the time, Travelers had the option to increase its investment to retain a 49.5 percent interest, which the company later did in 2012.

In June 2013, Travelers announced the acquisition of Dominion of Canada General Insurance Company from E-L Financial Corporation Limited (TSX: ELF). The transaction later closed in November 2013.

On August 4, 2015, the company announced that Alan Schnitzer would succeed Jay Fishman as Chief Executive Officer effective December 1, 2015.

2016: *Created the Early Severity Predictor, the first predictive model to help injured employees avoid chronic pain and opioid use.

In March 2017, Travelers agreed to acquire UK-based Simply Business from Aquiline Capital Partners for approximately $490 million.

On August 15, 2018, Travelers acquired the majority stake of Zensurance, a digital business insurance brokerage in Canada.

2019: Established a new comprehensive Life Sciences practice, offering insurance and risk management solutions across the fields of pharmaceuticals, medical devices and digital health.