Lincoln National Life Insurance Company

1905 – headquarters left Fort Wayne 1999; operations remain

Founded: The Lincoln National Life Insurance Company was founded in Fort Wayne on 12 June 1905 (articles of incorporation drawn 29 May 1905), organised out of the wreckage of a local 1902 fraternal-insurance scheme, the Fraternal Assurance Society of America. Four men were the founders; attorney Daniel Ninde was the largest stockholder and first chief financial officer; manager Perry Randall, a Fort Wayne attorney and entrepreneur, suggested the name "Lincoln." In August 1905 Robert Todd Lincoln authorised the use of his father's name and likeness — the company's emblem ever after.

Founders: Perry Randall, Daniel Ninde and two associates; Arthur F. Hall was lured in as first president, his pay tied to growth targets ($1 million of insurance in force by 1907; $53 million by 1921).

What it did: Legal-reserve life insurance, sold nationally; the company declared its first dividend (5 percent) in 1909 and grew into one of the largest life insurers in the United States — for most of the twentieth century Fort Wayne's largest white-collar employer and its signature corporation.

Course: The holding company, Lincoln National Corporation, was organised under Indiana law in 1968. The company ran the Lincoln Museum in Fort Wayne — the second-largest Lincoln museum in the country — until its closure in June 2008.

Fate: Lincoln moved its corporate headquarters from Fort Wayne to Philadelphia in 1999 (today Radnor, Pennsylvania, as Lincoln Financial Group). Lincoln National Life, the largest subsidiary, remained in Fort Wayne, and the insurance operations continue to be run from the city.

Sources:

1. Lincoln National Corporation, Wikipedia — origin 12 June 1905; founders Ninde and Randall; Robert Todd Lincoln's August 1905 authorisation; the 1968 holding company; the 1999 headquarters move; the museum's 2008 closure.
2. News-Sentinel, "The Lincoln insurance company built on foundation of failed pyramid scheme" — the 1902 Fraternal Assurance Society background; articles drawn 29 May 1905; Hall's presidency terms; the 1909 dividend.