Lincoln Financial Group history

Lincoln National Life Insurance Company was incorporated in Fort Wayne on May 15, 1905.

In 1911 Hall hired Franklin B. Mead, the firm's first full-time actuary.

Michigan State Life Insurance Company, acquired in 1916, was even younger than Lincoln Life, but it had grown more quickly.

The merger was so successful that Hall took over another successful midwestern firm in 1917, the Pioneer Life Insurance Company of Fargo, North Dakota.

Mead's successor as chief actuary and prospective president was Alva McAndless, known as "Mac," who had joined the company in 1919.

In 1928 Hall employed Louis A. Warren, who was establishing his reputation as a Lincoln scholar, to direct the Lincoln Historical Research Foundation.

“The Hoosier Youth,” celebrated heroic bronze sculpture by Paul Manship, takes shape, 1932

Franklin Mead had long been the second-ranking executive at Lincoln National and was Arthur Hall's likely successor until Mead's own death in 1933.

Hall, in failing health, became chairman of the board early in 1939, and McAndless became president and chief executive officer.

In 1941 the company increased starting salaries for the first time since the onset of the Depression.

By 1945 the company's profits depended more upon its extensive reinsurance business.

In 1951 Lincoln National purchased the Reliance Life Insurance Company of Pittsburgh from the Mellon National Bank for $27.5 million in cash.

His management style was not well-suited for the much larger company that resulted from the Reliance merger, but before any plans were made for a change in leadership, McAndless died of a heart attack early in 1954.

1955 Lincoln celebrates the year as the ninth largest life insurance company in the United States.