Top Officials
In Salem for
Ceremonies
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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
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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
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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 $94,000,000
now in the fund represents de
posits by employes.
Vice Prcddcn
..-as dbwwsMst Ssm
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Scalar vice
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president, ADstate
taararct Campaay
IALEM PtOJECT
Salem contractors Viesko 4
Post constructed the new Allstite
Building, and James L. Payne of
Salem was architect
to show the likeness of the original
a'-'e,
Now after the passage of almost
a quarter of a century this second
marker has been made
The plaque of the building is a
lift of the' Allstate Insurance
Company, through Bailey Barrett,
resident manager
Elmer Berg, newly elected pres
ident of the Chamber of Com
merce, recounted this week that
" "Henry Crawford was president
of the Chamber of Commerce in
1931 and he took part in the cere
monies marking this site with the
original tablet. . . .We are Inter
ested in the history of the com
mercial development of Salem and
in perpetuating important land
marks of government ana com
merce Te four corners at South
Commercial and Ferry are per
haps the most significant comers
In Saiems history.
Tent A Attraction Seea
: "The Chamber of Commerce is
)happ to sponsor this ceremony
and to have these Markers Identi
fy that corner as an Important
part of the history of Salem. V
', will strive" to have each of the
three remaining corners similarly
I identified with the past. This ne
it wID undoubtedly become one of
the major tourist attractions of
; our city." .
1 Those named to take a direct
. part In the unveiling exercise in
cluded Mayor Robert F. White:
;.Calvln Fentress Jr.. president,
Allstate Insurance Company; Dr.
ti Burt Brown Barker, vice presi
dent, University of Oregon; Elmer
Berg; William Hammond and
, . Siley VL Barrett,- AUstata. Insur
ance Company.
A building dedicated to
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formally opens today as Allstate Insurance Company's
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WImr yoo step in$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,
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