State Farm in Canada
State Farm® has been serving Canadians since 1938, marking its 70th anniversary in 2008.
In 1937 general insurance agent Bob Patterson from Toronto, Ontario, contacted State Farm founder G.J. Mecherle about the possibilities of expanding the State Farm brand north of the 49th parallel. Mercherle invited Patterson to the January 1938 Agency Convention in Chicago, Illinois to discuss matters further.
In a matter of months, State Farm opened an office in Toronto; it’s first outside the United States. Quite the feat considering the company had yet to expand to all 50 U.S. states.
On April 19, 1938, State Farm offered auto insurance for the first time in Canada. Life and fire insurance followed on January 1, 1954.
State Farm currently provides insurance and financial services through our agents in Alberta, Ontario, and New Brunswick. The Canadian Head Office is located in Aurora, Ontario (north of Toronto) with more than 515 agents and over 1,500 employees serving Canadian customers.
State Farm is currently the:
- Fourth largest Auto insurer in Canada
- Eight largest Property and Casualty (P&C) insurer in Canada
- Third largest Auto insurer in Ontario
- Third largest P&C insurer in Ontario
- Ninth largest P&C insurer Alberta
- Tenth largest P&C insurer in New Brunswick
Please visit State Farm in Canada - History for more information.
The State FarmŽ Story
At age 22, George J. Mecherle (pronounced Ma-herl) started farming his own land near Bloomington, Ill. In 1901 he married Edith Mae Perry who joined him on his farm. Within a few years, he was one of the leading farmers in the area.
After they had farmed for 20 years, Mrs. Mecherle's health began to fail and the couple decided to move to Bloomington. Unable to sit still, George Mecherle accepted a job selling insurance for a small company. He was successful as a salesman, but he didn't feel the rates or the business practices of the company suited the needs of farmers.
When he suggested a better way to sell insurance, his employer laughed and said, "If you think you've got such a good idea, why don't you start your own company?" So he did.
Mecherle believed that farmers should pay less for insurance because they drove less and had fewer losses than folks living in cities. Using this idea, he started State Farm in 1922 as a mutual automobile insurance company owned by its policyholders.
By 1928, the decision was made to decentralize. Employees from the Bloomington, Ill. office -- along with other employees hired in Berkeley, Cal -- established the Company's first branch office. This office provided support for agents and brought service closer to the customer.
The Berkeley office was the beginning of a tradition that, as of today, has resulted in 27 regional offices and more than 1,000 claim service centres. State Farm has grown to include 76,500 employees and more than 16,000 agents servicing 66.2 million policies in the United States and Canada.
In just over 80 years, State Farm Insurance Companies has grown from a small farm mutual auto insurer to one of the world's largest financial institutions. But despite State Farm's growth, Mecherle's original philosophy of insurance coverage at a fair price coupled with fair claim settlement has remained. |
