aetna insurance company, hartford ct, asylum hill, colonial revival

Remember this tag line? Introduced by Aetna in 1982, it helped to create brand name recognition for the company across the nation. I met a friend for coffee at Aetna today and decided the building would be a great subject for Thursday Doors, a weekly round-up hosted by Norm 2.0.

According to the website’s history page, Aetna Life Insurance Company was incorporated in 1853. Aetna occupied various offices in Hartford in its early years, but in 1929 construction began on the massive Colonial Revival building at 151 Farmington Avenue in Hartford. Completed in 1931, at one time the building was the largest colonial style building in the world. Perhaps it still is!

The tower atop the building is modeled after the Connecticut Old State House, and according to Emporis.com the building is approximately 87 feet and 7 stories tall and has 6 elevators. The architect for the building was James Gamble Rogers of New York, New York who was responsible for designing a number of buildings at Yale and other universities as well as the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York.

Along with Hartford Fire, Connecticut Mutual and others, Aetna helped to make Hartford the “Insurance Capital of the World”. A few other interesting facts from the website’s history page:

  • 1908 – Aetna hires its first female employee, Julia Kinghorn, a telephone switchboard operator.
  • 1912 – Several people insured by Aetna lose their lives on the Titanic.
  • 1931 – Aetna bonds the construction of the Hoover Dam.
  • 1944 – Aetna provides insurance for the Manhattan Project, which produced the world’s first atomic bomb.
  • 1954 – Aetna orders its first computer, an IBM.
  • 1972 – Aetna sponsors the Aetna World Cup, an international tennis challenge.
  • 1986 – Aetna bonds the restoration of the Statue of Liberty.

In addition to these fun facts their site provides an excellent timeline of Aetna’s long and successful insurance company history as well as their vision for a better healthcare system.

My mother also worked there for a time as a newlywed after moving to Connecticut from Maryland. How different it must be today! It was a treat to visit their home office building and to see the care that has been taken with it over the years.


Enjoy this post? You might also like First Church of Christ, Wethersfield and Sever Hall at Harvard University.

Don’t miss a post – subscribe via e-mail on the Home page.

 

Similar Posts

18 Comments

  1. My dad worked at the Aetna for 26 years. When I was a kid they used to have a big Christmas party for the children of all the employees and they would show Bugs Bunny cartoons in the auditorium. My memory of it is that it was very much like the Jorgensen or the Bushnell. Just beautiful inside.

    1. Awesome! I didn’t see the inside of the auditorium, but walked past the closed doors with my friend. She said it is “just the same” as it was (but maintained, of course). What a great memory you have!

    1. Yes – I am having issues with replies to replies which Joey poiinted out to me. I need to follow up with my theme developer!

    1. I was at Coopers starting in 1990! Just missed you! Too funny 🙂 then I landed in the wonderful world of insurance in 1993.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.