Golden State Mutual

Golden State Mutual. . , California’s First African American-Owned Insurance Firm , Founded in 1925, Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company made history as one of the first African American-owned insurance companies established in the American West. Whereas most black-owned businesses tended to remain small, Golden State grew in size and prominence over the years and became integral in the development of African American enterprises throughout the United States. , On July 23, 1925, William Nickerson Jr., Norman O. Houston, and George A. Beavers Jr. opened Golden State Guarantee Fund Insurance Company in a one-room office above a storefront at 1435 South Central Avenue, near Newton Street. Nickerson had relocated from Houston after founding the American Mutual Benefit Association, the first black insurance company in Texas. With the dream of creating a full-line mutual insurance firm that could successfully compete in multiple states, Nickerson joined forces with Houston, a Northern Californian, and Beavers, who came to Los Angeles from Atlanta as a child. , At the time, white-owned insurance companies typically either denied coverage to California's African American families, labeling them as "uninsurable" or "extraordinary risks," or charged them exorbitant prices for limited coverage. White insurance executives, in fact, attempted to sabotage the establishment of Golden State. But the company quickly began to prosper by filling a void for African American consumers, and it moved to 3512 Central Avenue, near the corner of Jefferson Boulevard. By 1928, it had more than 100 employees, including 60 agents, with branches in Pasadena, Bakersfield, San Diego, and Fresno. , “Growing Giant of the West” , In 1928, to accommodate its growing work-force and business, the firm secured a lot and commissioned its first headquarters, a Spanish Colonial Revival-style building at 4261 Central Avenue. The architect was James Homer Garrott, an African American then in the early years of what would be a long, successful career. Golden State occupied the spacious second floor, leaving the ground floor for storefronts. Louis M. Blodgett (a founder of Liberty Savings and Loan Association, in the 2500 block of Central) managed the African American construction crew that built the impressive new headquarters. All took pride in the fact that its design and construction were the products of African American ingenuity and skill. , By 1930, Golden State employed 130 people, most of them African Americans, in white-collar positions. It was renamed Golden State Mutual Life Insurance Company in 1931. Throughout the Great Depression of the 1930s, the firm remained profitable and paid dividends. During World War II, it added branches in Illinois and Texas, making mortgage loans to African American and other customers that white insurance companies would not serve. Like other insurance firms, Golden State invested in bonds, which contributed to financing the state's growth. The company helped to improve the health and welfare of countless California residents, either by employing them or by providing disability and life insurance. , Pivotal Changes in Leadership , When Nickerson died in 1945, Houston succeeded him as president. By then, Golden State Mutual was the largest black-owned business of any type west of the Mississippi River and the nation's seventh-largest African American-owned insurance company. Houston oversaw the firm's phenomenal growth during the post-war era and orchestrated its relocation to Los Angeles' West Adams district in 1949. African American architect Paul R. Williams designed the company's second headquarters building. The original Golden State building is a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument and is listed on the state and national registers of historic places.