State Farm Insurance Company

Retired farmer and insurance salesman George Jacob Mecherle founded State Farm Insurance Company in 1922. Mecherle felt that farmers should pay less more for auto insurance because they drove less and had fewer accidents.

The company grew steadily in the 1920's and 30's and managed to gain a million policies by 1944. In 1955, the company added homeowners insurance to its product line and became the nation's top insurance provider. The company transformed into the largest insurance writer in the world officially in 1964.

By 1972, State Farm unveiled its new corporate headquarters in Bloomington, Illinois to house its 4,000 employees. The company added two more buildings in 1987 as a result of its rapid growth.

State Farm's life insurance premiums doubled to over $100 billion in 1986 from previous figures just five years earlier. Eleven years later, the company had another building put up to house data processing and systems employees. In the same year, State Farm joined other competitors and made its presence felt on the internet.

The company also gave away $700 million worth of dividends in 1997 to policy holders in 30 states after enjoying less-than-expected expenses.

In the year 2000, the company also launched State Farm Bank to offer financial services. State Farm also opened its doors to Canadian customers in Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick.

State Farm was also included in the 40 Best Companies for Diversity and 15 Best in Marketing Diversity in Black Enterprise Magazine's ranking for 2007.

At present, the company is a one of the leading home insurers in the U.S. State Farm currently has 17,000 agents and 68,000 employees serving over 75 million policies in both the United States and Canada.