Safeco

Safeco Insurance is an American insurance company based in Seattle. A subsidiary of Liberty Mutual, Safeco provides auto insurance, homeowners insurance, and liability insurance. The company name is an acronym for Selective Auto and Fire Ensurance Company of America, or SAFECO (i.e., S.A.F.E. Co.). History Safeco was founded in 1923 by Hawthorne Kingsbury Dent (1880-1958) as the General Insurance Company of America, a property and casualty insuring company, with a headquarters in Downtown Seattle at the corner of University Street and Fourth Avenue. In 1936, it moved to the eight-story Brooklyn Building at the corner of N.E. 45th Street and Brooklyn Avenue N.E. in the University District, Seattle. In 1953, it formed a subsidiary, the "Selective Auto and Fire Insurance Company of America," or SAFECO. General Insurance began to sell life insurance in 1957. In 1968, it changed its name from the General Insurance Company of America to Safeco Corporation. Around the same time the company began to offer mutual funds and commercial credit, though precursors to the Safeco Funds had been around since the 1930s. Safeco replaced the Brooklyn Building with the 22-story Safeco Plaza (now UW Tower) building in 1973. It remains the tallest building in the city outside Downtown.