Ramsey County History – Fall 1996: “Fires, Hurricanes, Diamonds, Elephants: The Colorful History of St. Paul Companies—Minnesota’s Oldest Business Corporation

Fires, Hurricanes, Diamonds, Elephants: The Colorful History of St. Paul Companies—Minnesota’s Oldest Business Corporation

Author: Virginia Brainard Kunz

The St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company was incorporated in 1853, five years before Minnesota became a state. As a steamboat, then rail transportation center, St. Paul needed this institution and it has flourished ever since. It paid claims from the Chicago Fire of 1871, the San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, and countless other calamities. This long article tells the company’s story from founding up to the year of publication.

PDF of Kunz article

PDF of a Panorama of Saint Paul in 1853