Timeline

1910s | 1920s | 1930s | 1940s | 1950s | 1960s | 1970s | 1980s | 1990s | 2000s 

• 1911:
  • The Massachusetts Legislature passes a law requiring employers to protect their employees with workers' compensation insurance.
  1912:
  • The Massachusetts Employees’ Insurance Association (MEIA), the forerunner of today’s Liberty Mutual, begins operation on July 1, 1912. As a mutual company, the MEIA is owned by its policyholders, not stockholders. It works on behalf of its policyholder customers — a tradition that continues to this day.
  1914: 
  • Company opens first branch office in Springfield, Massachusetts. The Company issues its first automobile policy.
  1917:
  • MEIA changes its name to the Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and begins writing public liability insurance. It also enters into an arrangement with the United Mutual Fire Insurance Company (later named Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance) to provide complete automobile insurance.
  1919:
  • Liberty Mutual launches its first advertising campaign.

• 1921:
  • Two safety films — "The Outlaw" and "The Hand of Fate" — are seen by more than a quarter of a million plant managers and employees.
  1925:
  • The first meeting of the Liberty Mutual Board of Directors and Customer Advisory Board takes place.

• 1930:
  • Liberty Mutual distributes safety materials in high school drivers' education courses, an effort that continues today through the Company's teen driving program.
  1936:
  • Liberty Mutual holds groundbreaking for its new home office in Boston.
  • Liberty Mutual becomes the no.1 writer of workers compensation insurance.
  1937:
  • Liberty Mutual completes expansion of its operations to all 48 states.

• 1941:
  • During World War II, Liberty Mutual provides more service for policyholder contractors operating overseas than any other casualty company, often in remote locations: Somaliland, Greenland, and Guam.
  1943: 
  • Liberty Mutual opens the first rehabilitation center in the country in Boston, with a goal of helping restore the injured to useful lives.

• 1954:
  • Liberty Mutual opens the Research Center for Safety and Health in Hopkinton, Massachusetts., to strengthen its commitment to loss control.
  1957:
  • Liberty introduces two prototype "survival cars." Standard features such as headrests to guard against whiplash and, most notably, safety belts, are introduced.

• 1964: 
  • Liberty Life Assurance Company of Boston is established offering a full range of individual and group life insurance products.
  1964:
  • Liberty Mutual establishes the Skid Control School, the first in North America, at the Hopkinton, Massachusetts, Research Center for Safety and Health.
  1967:
  • Liberty International Agency was formed to handle the foreign insurance requirements of the Company's domestic policyholders doing business overseas.

• 1972:
  • Liberty Mutual surpasses the $2 billion mark in written premiums.
  1973:
  • Liberty Mutual Insurance Company (Massachusetts) Limited was chartered in London to participate in the international reinsurance market, becoming the Company's first wholly owned international office.

• 1982: 
  • The Medical Service Center in Boston expands to include The Back School, which shows people with low-back pain from work injuries how to live productive lives.
  1985:
  • Liberty Mutual enters the financial services business with the purchase of Liberty Financial Services.

• 1993:
  • Liberty Mutual forms Liberty International Holdings to underwrite commercial risks in selected international markets, and to export the Company's highly regarded health and safety services.
  1997:
  • Liberty Mutual acquires Golden Eagle Insurance of San Diego, California, the first of many acquisitions that would be combined into Liberty's Regional Agency Markets organization.
  1998:
  • Liberty Mutual affiliates with Employers Insurance of Wausau, one of the most recognizable and respected brand names in the United States commercial insurance and risk management marketplace.
    Liberty Mutual purchases Latinoamericana de Seguros SA in Colombia, and Citystate Insurance in Singapore, Hong Kong, and the Philippines.
  1999:
  • Liberty Mutual establishes the Center for Disability Research at the Research Center for Safety and Health in Hopkinton, Massachusetts.

• 2000:
  • Liberty Mutual partners with SADD (Students Against Destructive Decisions) to explore solutions to problems associated with teen use of alcohol and drugs, as well as driving issues.
    Policyholders of Liberty Mutual Insurance Company and Liberty Mutual Fire Insurance Company overwhelmingly approve the Company's mutual holding company plan during special meetings for members of both companies.
  2001:
  • Liberty Mutual sells Liberty Financial Companies and its asset management, and annuity and bank marketing businesses, allowing Liberty to focus on providing property and casualty products and services.
    Liberty Mutual acquires OneBeacon, positioning its Agency Markets business as a true national organization of regional companies with operations in 42 states
    Liberty expands into Spain with two acquisitions, and strengthens its operations in Colombia and Venezuela with the purchase of two more companies.
  2002:
  • Liberty Mutual converts to a mutual holding company structure. The conversion better positions Liberty Mutual to compete on the global property and casualty stage.
    Liberty Mutual loss prevention professionals coordinate the safe clean-up of the World Trade Center site.
    Liberty acquires Winterthur’s operations in Portugal, and China approves Liberty Mutual’s insurance license application to open an insurance branch operation.
  2003:
  • Liberty renames its research center the Liberty Mutual Research Institute for Safety, coinciding with the physical expansion of the Research Institute – from 42,570 sq. ft. to 93,800 sq. ft.
    Liberty Mutual completes its purchase of Prudential Financial’s U.S. personal lines property and casualty operations in 47 states.
    Liberty Mutual Group acquires Met Life’s Spanish operations.
  2004:
  • Liberty announces five-year event sponsorship of Boston's Fourth of July on the Esplanade, America's premier Independence Day celebration that is televised nationally on CBS stations.
    Liberty Mutual opens "Where's The Fire?", a fire safety and education exhibit at INNOVENTIONS at Epcot ® at the Walt Disney World ® Resort in Florida.
    Liberty Mutual sells its Canadian personal lines business in Canada to Meloche Monnex, Inc., a member of TD Bank Financial Group.
    Liberty Mutual becomes the first foreign property and casualty insurance company in western China when it opens an office in Chongqing, the company’s first insurance office in China.
  2005:
  • Liberty Mutual expands its presence in Boston, buying properties at 10 St. James Avenue and 75 Arlington Street in the Back Bay.
    The National Safety Council presents its 2005 Green Cross for Safety Medallion to Liberty Mutual Group and Chairman, President and CEO Ted Kelly, recognizing the organization and its leader for outstanding achievements in safety and health, community service and responsible citizenship.
    Liberty Mutual acquires ING’s P&C operations in Chile.
    The company reorganizes its commercial Strategic Business Units to better align distribution channels and strengthen operations. Liberty Mutual Agency Markets is formed to coordinate and rationalize our third party distribution processes. Liberty Mutual Agency Markets comprise Wausau, Liberty Mutual Surety and Regional Agency Markets.
  2006:
  • Liberty Mutual launches national advertising campaign posing the question: "Responsibility. What's Your Policy?"
    Liberty International Underwriters enters Middle East with new office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, bringing number of LIU offices worldwide to 29.
    Liberty Mutual Group enters Turkey’s insurance market with acquisition of Seker Sigorta A.S.
    Liberty Mutual Group receives General Insurance License from Vietnam’s Ministry Of Finance.
    The company launches the inaugural Liberty Mutual “Coach of the Year” award, recognizing responsibility and excellence of college football coaches on and off the field. Rutgers Football Coach Greg Schiano is the the first to receive the award.
    Liberty Mutual launches the Chairman's Community Service Award, which honors three employees each year who make "significant and sustained volunteer contributions"--outside of company-sponsored events--to charitable organizations in their community.