insurance founded wawanesa manitoba canada founder alonzo fowler kempton headquarters winnipeg manitoba canada area served canada california oregon key people jeff goy president and ceo products mutual services property insurance auto insurance life insurance subsidiaries wawanesa life wawanesa general usa website wawanesa.com the wawanesa mutual insurance co. is a canadian insurance firm . currently the company s executive offices are located in winnipeg manitoba with regional offices across canada and operations in the united states . history edit the company was established as a farmers mutual insurance carrier in 1896 in wawanesa manitoba and was subsequently incorporated by an act of parliament on may 1 1929 . it was founded by alonzo fowler kempton who started the company using money invested by local farmers . after two weeks charles kerr alonzo s partner completed the company s first policy insuring a thresher for 600 at a premium of 24 for three years . 1 the wawanesa insurance executive office building located in winnipeg manitoba canada . a small room was rented above a local drugstore . the staff consisted of alonzo kempton the secretary manager and charles kerr the bookkeeper . seven of the twenty original investors were named directors . wawanesa issued its first policies without a premium payment because farmers didn t have cash until after harvest . 1 several years later the company diversified its coverage to include building coverage . in 1901 wawanesa moved to the souris river valley and the number of employees increased to five . by 1910 the company had become the largest fire insurance company in the country . 2 during the great depression the company expanded fuelled by large cash reserves and new offices in vancouver toronto montreal winnipeg and moncton however the company was forced to cut director s salaries by 20 % and on corporate visits the company directors shared beds . 3 the united states branch was established under the laws of california on may 23 1974 . 4 initial funds were realized from a contribution of the canadian parent corporation . the first policy was written in the united states in april 1975 . head office for the u.s. unit is in san diego california although they also write automobile polices in the state of oregon . references edit a b the wawanesa mutual insurance company wawanesa insurance . company history the founders . old pathways new horizons a history of the wawanesa mutual insurance company . the wawanesa mutual insurance company wawanesa insurance . company history first footsteps . old pathways new horizons a history of the wawanesa mutual insurance company . the wawanesa mutual insurance company wawanesa insurance . company history charles morley vanstone . old pathways new horizons a history of the wawanesa mutual insurance company . the wawanesa mutual insurance company wawanesa insurance . company history a venture south . old pathways new horizons a history of the wawanesa mutual insurance company . external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title wawanesa insurance & oldid 741279633 categories insurance companies of canada navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version languages add links this page was last modified on 26 september 2016 at 14 15 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; additional terms may apply . by using this site you agree to the terms of use and privacy policy . wikipedia is a registered trademark of the wikimedia foundation inc. a non profit organization . privacy policy about wikipedia disclaimers contact wikipedia developers cookie statement mobile view