State Farm Insurance

State Farm Insurance Companies are a group of large US insurance and financial services companies started in 1922 by former farmer George J. Mecherle (pronounced Ma-herl). The corporate headquarters is in Bloomington, Illinois.

History

State Farm was started as a mutual automobile insurance company owned by its policyholders. Despite the company's name, State Farm did not initially begin as a crop insurance company, such as Farmers Insurance. Specifically, State Farm specialized in auto insurance for farmers. Mecherle beleived that since farmers drove less and has fewer losses than city drivers, they should pay less for insurance. His idea was popular with farmers and made his new company successful.

Since its beginnings, State Farm has branched out into offerring other popular types of insurance, such as homeowners, life insurance, financial services and banking.

State Farm has grown to include 79,200 employees and more than 16,700 agents servicing 71.6 million policies in the United States and Canada.