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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 18, 1956)
Top Officials In Salem for Ceremonies I 1 1 LI nr , I - t 'Vic 'kj r Building lnrclire Irftiifioii to Salem Open house ceremonies are being held today for Allstate In surance Company employe! and thei. families at Allstate's new regional of'ice at 198 S. Commer cial St. On the day'i schedule was a in a.m. unveiling of bronze tab lets at the new two-story building which is on the -site of Salem's first store. , Today's ceremonies mark the midpoint of buay reek of travel fur five Allstate executives present t the function. Attndin? an open house Mon day for the company's office Vancouver, B.C., were Calvin Fen tress Jr.. president: Judson B. Branch, senior vice president; Henry S. Moser, vice president and ge"er' counsel, A. I. Spot tke, vice presidert-public rela tions, and E. A. Frederick, Paci fic Coast Zone vice president. LeaviaK for California Following the Salem open house, thev will go to Pasadena, Calif., to participate in open house cere monies at the company's new building there on Jan. 20. The Salem regional office was first opened for business several weeks ago. "This is busy but extremely Interesting and worthwhile week for all of us," Fentress said. "It i giving us a fresh look at the vital Pacific Coast region,- all the way from Canada to California. "We note that the entire area hows evidence of tremendous growth and expanding industry. Allstate's growth on the Coast has kept pace with population and business Increases. W expect a bright future for the Pacific Coast and additional open houses for All state as the years go by. C " ated A ceremony held In Salem on Sept. 29. 1931, is being repeated todav with the unveiling of two bronze tablets marking the site of the first store in Salem. The original tablet was unveiled in 1931, on the building recently rand to clear t' i for i - r office building, br Glenn Cox. a great-ereat-grandson of Thomas Cox. The following story is in scribed on the tablet: FPC STO"'" BUILDING ; PIT , Thomas Cox arrived in Sa lem in the Fall of 1W with a rock of merchandise h had brought in wagons from Wil mington, III. Ht first lived end had this stock in the Jud son house about 950 fee to the northeast. TDurino thl .ttiinlef DJ IM7 41 he built the first store buildinp in Salem and on the northeast comer of Commer cial and Ferry Strttts and here conducted the first store. Here also was the first post office in Salem. " ;" Gift ef Dr. Barker "" The first tablet was the gift ol Dr. Burt Brown Barker, great- grandson of Thomas Cox, and several other descendants of Thomas Cox. Dr. Barker first con ceived the idea of such a tablet after listening to the stories about the Cox party crossing the plains, as told by bis ' uncle J. Henry Brown, who at 10 years of age had made the Journey. As the story goes, some time after ar riving here with the wagons, Thomas Cot decided that facilities for the storage and sale of his goods were inadequate and he ought a suitable location for tore. Ha decided that the corner now marked would be a leading pot in Salem's future and an ex cellent location for his store, . Barrett Gives PUqu Some time after the ceremony In 1931, Chester Cox, great-grand on of Thomas Cox, came across a picture of. the original store building which he had found ki si issue of a I add and Bufh bank brochure. It then became . Dr Barker's desire to some day, have an additional bronze tablet made L- r n i i i s lit i i jf (I t MA The aew Allstate Insurance .Building at the corner ef Ferry and South Commercial Streets is aa attractive addition te the downtewa Salem Business picture. It is aa the site at Salem's first store. Rapid Growtli Cited Since Firm's Start On April 17, 1931, Allstate In surance Company was incorporat ed in the state of Illinois with $350,000 in cspital and $330,000 in surplus. It occupied a 1,300 square foot area in the Sears ad ministration building in Chicago and had a staff of 20. It was iden tified as Department 709 of Sears Roebuck and Co. The rest is business history. Allstate, which celebrates its 25th anniversary on April 17 of this year, is declared to have out stripped all competition to be come first in its field. It has ven tured into new fields of personal liability and residential fire in surance. It has more than 2,700 trained and licensed agents, backed by a staff of 8,300 serv ing in 23 regional offices in the United States and two in Cana da, and nearly a thousand service offices. President CAl . ".ea" it. Li tMRtSi O. .!-y ' Company BUILT TO SPECIFICATIONS The new Allstate Building was developed on property owned by C. L. Corporation specifically for lease to Allstate. Profit-Share Plan Covers Allstate Folk Employes of the Salem regional office of Allstate Insurance Com pany, which is holding an open house today, are among 123.000 employe-members who share in the 1603,000,000 profit sharing fund of Sears Roebuck and Co. As employes of Allstate, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Sears, the Salem staff takes full part in Sears famed profit sharing plan The employe fund owns more than 26 per cent of Sears stock and is now the largest single stockhold er of the company. , Employe-members deposit five per cent of their wages into the fund each year, up to $300. The company contributes an establish ed percentage of its profits hich are credited to members oo the basis of contribution and length ot service. More than $94,000,000 now in the fund represents de posits by employes. Vice Prcddcn ..-as dbwwsMst Ssm JID' Scalar vice Tl president, ADstate taararct Campaay IALEM PtOJECT Salem contractors Viesko 4 Post constructed the new Allstite Building, and James L. Payne of Salem was architect to show the likeness of the original a'-'e, Now after the passage of almost a quarter of a century this second marker has been made The plaque of the building is a lift of the' Allstate Insurance Company, through Bailey Barrett, resident manager Elmer Berg, newly elected pres ident of the Chamber of Com merce, recounted this week that " "Henry Crawford was president of the Chamber of Commerce in 1931 and he took part in the cere monies marking this site with the original tablet. . . .We are Inter ested in the history of the com mercial development of Salem and in perpetuating important land marks of government ana com merce Te four corners at South Commercial and Ferry are per haps the most significant comers In Saiems history. Tent A Attraction Seea : "The Chamber of Commerce is )happ to sponsor this ceremony and to have these Markers Identi fy that corner as an Important part of the history of Salem. V ', will strive" to have each of the three remaining corners similarly I identified with the past. This ne it wID undoubtedly become one of the major tourist attractions of ; our city." . 1 Those named to take a direct . part In the unveiling exercise in cluded Mayor Robert F. White: ;.Calvln Fentress Jr.. president, Allstate Insurance Company; Dr. ti Burt Brown Barker, vice presi dent, University of Oregon; Elmer Berg; William Hammond and , . Siley VL Barrett,- AUstata. Insur ance Company. A building dedicated to y' , -" . SW,UrW. 1-4 WWW- . - - - - firsr ' ' . j '! ', tST-' - - -- -...,.. -v v f kiTi J mj l L M l nr-i T,. I urr' J w I n i i li Uts- I I . . - , Hi i rjT li i m 1 1 li I i a li i'. . i-. i ssp u si ar m z- r w f -.. t a eai a k.ss is i ii i a in aa is n atk. , v. """ ' r"'' '' ' ' W''''':.V-'' .' " ' ' formally opens today as Allstate Insurance Company's ' ; . v , . i; ' ........ ,.,.:, WImr yoo step in$Ut Nun&ir 191 Sovtii Commtrdd Srrttt you'll see why this new Salem Regional Office is truly dedicated to service, i Nowwith-our better-location and greatly improved facilitievwe can give even better service to 'our many thousands of policyholders in the Salem area. A , , . The building itself represents the finest in: design, materials and construction. Inside, the most modern business equipment and pleas- antry congenial working conditions assure fast, efficient han dling of claims and sales by highly-trained people. In all these important respects, this building is typical of the many new facilities being opened throughout 'the United States and Canada to keep pace with Allstate's spectacular growth. For servict is one of the most important reason why Allstate, founded by Sears, has become the world's largest auto insurance company based on latest available direct written premium figures. , . You are cordially iNviTEDto visit us in our new home. Come in and meet the men and women who handle your insurance needs the peo ple who put true meaning into that word service n You'll see why more than 3,000,(XX) policyholders find real peace ol mind in the promise . , . You're In good hands with Allstate, V w in ggg ninsi wiinm I H A H U STOCK COMPANY flOTICTIOM ' Ftvadad by ert Assttt tndBtbiini distind and itpsrttt from the pannt, Sun, FotbucM Horn Office: SMokl Wind