Wolverine Mutual Insurance celebrating 100th anniversary
Published 10:24 am Tuesday, March 14, 2017
- (Leader photo/TED YOAKUM)
Like the animal the company is named for, Dowagiac’s Wolverine Mutual Insurance is resilient, weathering the test of time — a century’s worth of time, to be more precise.
The company began as a simple auto insurance agency in 1917, run out of founder E. Bruce Laing’s office on the second floor of a pharmacy on Front Street downtown (where China Garden is currently located). Under his and his descendants’ leadership, Wolverine Mutual has grown into a company that insures car, home, rental and other policies for more than 40,000 people across Michigan and Indiana — and has remained firmly entranced in The Grand Old City the entire time.
Next Monday, the company will invite the public to celebrate its 100th anniversary during a special event hosted in conjunction with the Greater Dowagiac Chamber of Commerce. The celebration will take place from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at the company’s headquarters, located at 1 Wolverine Way (off M-62, around 1 mile outside of town).
Wolverine Mutual Insurance began life under the name of Wolverine Mutual Motor Insurance on March 20, 1917. The company was started by E. Bruce Laing, who at the time was the president of First National Bank as well as a practicing attorney.
“We were founded around the time the first automobiles began to hit the streets,” said G. Bruce Laing, the E. Bruce’s grandson and current chairman of the company’s board.
E. Bruce initially ran the company by himself and a secretary in his downtown office, before relocating to the Beckwith Theater building a short ways away in 1923.
“Under our grandfather, the business stayed fairly low key,” Bruce said. “However, after our father (D. Bruce Laing) joined, he started developing the company into something more.”
The company soon began offering other types of insurance, such as homeowners, and changed its name to Wolverine Mutual Insurance in 1946. In 1950, the company was licensed to offer insurance to customers in Indiana as well.
The company relocated again in 1946 to a new building, which later housed the Dowagiac Union Schools administrative offices. In 1975, the company moved to its premises off M-62, where it resides to this day.
In 2006, G. Bruce took over as chairman of the company, while his brother, Jim, became president.
Today, the company is partnered with around 250 independent insurance agents across Michigan and Indiana, and employs 45 people at its office in Dowagiac and at other branch offices.
As a mutual insurance agency, the company is owned entirely by its policy holders, and therefore does not have a board of stockholders to be accountable to, Jim said.
“We are more concerned about being good stewards of our company’s culture than we are about maximizing profits for ourselves,” Jim said.
Among the tenets of that culture is providing exceptional customer service. When customers call the company with a claim, employees always call back within the same day, Jim said.
The company also prides itself in the way it treats its staff, with a low turnover rate among its employees. In fact, many employees retire with 40 years or more of service under their belts, Bruce said.
“It is really important that we do the best we can for our employees, and because of that they do the best they can for the company,” Bruce said.
The company is also committed to being a great neighbor. Wolverine is a frequent contributor to fundraisers and programs that benefit Dowagiac, and many of its members are involved with service organizations across the region, Bruce said.
“Here [Dowagiac] is where our home is, and we aren’t going anywhere,” Jim said. “We want this to see this community thrive, and want to help whoever is in need.”
