Hartford Fire Insurance Company

On May 10, 1810, the Connecticut General Assembly incorporated the Hartford Fire Insurance Company, naming Nathaniel Terry its first president. The company wrote the first fire insurance policy for an institution of higher learning when it insured Yale in 1825. Hartford Fire expanded west to Columbus, Ohio, in 1852 and San Francisco, California, in 1870. In 1871, the company paid $2 million in claims from the Great Chicago Fire. Almost thirty years later, Hartford Fire paid for $11.6 million for damages caused by the San Francisco earthquake of 1906. In 1913, it expanded to become the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company, providing accident, automobile liability, personal damage, and business interruption insurance, but did not branch into life insurance until 1959. By 1997, after acquisition by ITT Corporation and further expansion of its services, the company's name again changed to The Hartford Financial Services Group, Inc.

Source:

...