Nationwide Insurance was founded 100 years ago. Look back
UFO insurance? 100 years later, take a look at the history of the Columbus giant.
In 1926, a farmer filed an auto claim with a small, Ohio-based insurer that would become one of the nation’s largest mutual insurance company still standing after a century of service.
In 2026, Nationwide Insurance has grown from a $10,000 pool for Buckeye State farmers to a staple of the Columbus skyline and the U.S. financial market. It employs over 22,000 people, ranks 72nd on Fortune 500 and is one of the 0.5% of companies to make it to 100 years in business.
“Nationwide got its start when a group of Ohio farmers came together to get a fair price for auto insurance for those who didn’t live in the city,” Nationwide CEO Kirt Walker said in a letter in February. “That spirit of protection remains at the heart of the company today.”
Nationwide already started its centennial strong. The insurance giant released a report earlier this month, celebrating its fifth consecutive year of record sales and adjusted capital, raking in $73.2 billion in sales and premiums in 2025.
Storied history of safety and service
Nationwide’s official centennial is April 14, the anniversary of when it wrote its first policy as the Farm Bureau Mutual Automobile Insurance Co. Nationwide. It started as an extension of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, first focused on protecting Ohio farmers’ cars, when tractors weren’t yet widely used as farming equipment.
In 1928, the company spread into other states, including West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Vermont and North Carolina. In the wake of the Great Depression, farmers across the country needed affordable coverage for their property. By 1935, Nationwide had expanded its business model into home, fire and life insurance, and only continued to grow from there, adding a broadcast arm, financial services and real estate development to its repertoire.
In 1948, the company split from the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation, and in 1955, the company became Nationwide. “It was a little bit of an aspirational name,” Steve Hausfeld, the company’s archivist and historian for the past 20 years, said in an interview with The Dispatch. Nationwide was only present in 13 states at the time, but it was an era of intense patriotism in the aftermath of World War II and the Korean War.
The company also introduced a new slogan: “In Service, with People.” In 1967, the company’s jingle “Nationwide is on your side” was penned by American composer Steve Karmen of Elsmere Music, and has become iconic, as far as advert jingles go.
In the space recently transformed into a company museum at One Nationwide Plaza, Hausfeld pointed to the ways the company adapted through the decades to meet the changing priorities and needs of the people it wanted to serve.
Nationwide was a huge proponent of driver safety as early as the 1930s. In 1937, Nationwide’s first safety officer built a custom “paintball” car that fired paint on the ground via pistols at three points in a braking maneuver so people could more tangibly see how long it took for a driver to react and stop their car. In 1963, Nationwide was the first insurance company to offer monetary incentives for wearing a seatbelt, and to this day, the insurance company has many driver safety initiatives.
Some quirkier initiatives include protection for property against debris from crashed UFOs, a concern that Hausfeld said Nationwide was getting calls about in the 1970s after a national string of alleged UFO sightings, including some in Ohio. In the 1980s, Nationwide also produced a policy for home property protection against paranormal activity after getting worried calls from customers during a time of cultural obsession with the paranormal.
The company no longer has policies to cover damage from UFOs and paranormal phenomena.
Hausfeld noted that these were real concerns of people covered by Nationwide, and while they may sound absurd are examples of Nationwide’s commitment to listening to customer needs. That spirit lives on with pet insurance and nuanced, custom approach to retirement packages.
“In my job, I look throughout our history to understand how the company operates, and one of the most significant things I’ve seen… is that our culture is very focused on customers, very focused on people, and very focused on communities,” Hausfeld said.
Enduring business and the next 100 years
In 2025, Nationwide celebrated six employees who have been at the company for 50 years or more.
Among them is Yvette Knott. The 69-year-old started in 1973 as a microfiche, or microfilm, clerk after graduating high school and moving to Columbus. Now, she’s a technical operations director in financial and shared services.
In those more than 50 years, Knott has seen several CEOs come and go, witnessed countless technological advances and was present for the move from Broad Street into what’s now Nationwide Plaza. She loves everything about working for Nationwide, she told The Dispatch. She worked hard to climb the corporate ladder at a time when women employees doing so was rare, and women of color doing so even rarer.
There were obstacles, but still, Nationwide created more opportunities, Knott said. She said she was “blessed” to have bosses who believed she could handle whatever job she sought and helped her escape the box she felt she was trapped in. Their support is where her loyalty to Nationwide founds its roots and the motivation to get to where she is today, as well as mentor other employees and lead diversity efforts within the company.
As of 2026, she has no plans to retire. “I haven’t really thought about it, to be honest,” she laughed. “I just love this company.”
In a previous interview with The Dispatch, Walker praised employees as a key factor in their success. Nationwide is often complimented on its employees’ character, he said, and that they “do what they say and they do it with a smile on their face.” It’s one of several ways the city of Columbus has shaped the company this past century.
“Thanks to the dedication of our employees and partners, we are well positioned to protect people, businesses and futures with extraordinary care for generations to come,” Walker said in the company’s 2025 report.
How Nationwide has shaped Columbus over 100 years is evident on the city’s world renowned children’s hospital, downtown sports arena and skyline, the jerseys of many sports teams, the Memorial Tournament and more. Established in 1959, the Nationwide Foundation, the company’s charitable arm, has donated over $745 million to causes across the country since 2000, with much of it invested into central Ohio. That naturally includes Nationwide Children’s Hospital, but also key areas workforce, education, mental health, homelessness, food insecurity and other needs.
The company is already planning for the next 100 years. In its 2025 report, Walker said that the centennial “marks more than a milestone” and emphasized that today’s decisions in the company are setting the groundwork for its future.
For the leaders of that next 100 years, Knott had some words of wisdom. She pressed that they should never lose sight of who they work for: the customers, and to always be open to their employees, like those who helped get her where she and many more workers are in 2026.
“Stay connected and show that people matter,” Knott said.
Business and consumer issues reporter Samantha Hendrickson can be reached at shendrickson@dispatch.com
Clinton Mora is a reporter for Trending Insurance News. He has previously worked for the Forbes. As a contributor to Trending Insurance News, Clinton covers emerging a wide range of property and casualty insurance related stories.