View source for Mennonite Mutual Insurance Company of Kansas

When the Mennonites migrated from Prussia to [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]] in the latter 19th century, they brought with them the system of mutual insurance. (See [[Tiegenhof Fire Insurance|Tiegenhöfer Privat Brandordnung]]; also [[Insurance|Insurance]].) The minutes of the earliest organization of the Newton Mutual Fire Insurance Company were destroyed by fire, but it is certain that the association was in operation in 1879 and for at least a brief time previously. An early experience of the fire association was the fire at Halstead, Kansas, the headquarters of the association, which destroyed the Mennonite Book Concern, one of the company's risks. In 1880 the company was incorporated and chartered as the Mennonite Mutual Fire Insurance Company of Kansas.

Outstanding among the organizers and founders of this association were [[Goerz, David (1849-1914)|David Goerz]], [[Warkentin, Bernhard (1847-1908)|Bernhard Warkentin]], [[Ewert, William J. (1856-1928)|William Ewert]], H. Richert, and B. Buhler. The headquarters of the association in 1956 were at [[Newton (Kansas, USA)|Newton]], [[Kansas (USA)|Kansas]]. At first this insurance company accepted only Mennonites as members, but in time began to include others. In 1937 the name of the organization was changed to Midland Mutual Insurance Company; it was a commercial mutual and was no longer a strictly Mennonite company.
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