An Early Twentieth Century Advertising Mirror from Madison

Collectors of Wisconsin exonumia occasionally happen upon historical advertising mirrors that compliment their collecting interests. Recently, I had the good fortune of obtaining just such a local promotional piece in an auction box lot. The interesting piece advertises the Mystic Workers of the World and dates to the early 1900s.

The Mystic Workers of the World

The Mystic Workers of the World was founded in Fulton, Illinois in 1896 as a fraternal benefit society. The organization sought to offer insurance alternatives to workers in the Midwest and northern states that were more reasonable than those provided by old line Eastern companies. Reports from the state insurance commissioner issued in the early 1900s indicate that Mystic Workers was admitted into Wisconsin on March 1, 1899.

The Madison lodge (No. 424) was organized in 1902, and according to that year’s City Directory, the organization’s office was located on the fourth floor of a South Pinckney Street building. Madison attorney and real estate agent Felix A. Kremer was elected as the organization’s first State Manager. (Kremer later served in the state legislature.) The society grew rapidly. An annual picnic held in Madison in 1906 drew 7,000 visitors, and by 1908, the organization’s membership had passed the 50,000 mark.

In 1911, George W. Howe was the State Manager and the City Directory listed an East Mifflin Street address for the organization. However, I could not find Howe listed in City Directories after 1911. Newspaper announcements throughout the first two decades show that the local Mystic Workers met on the first and third Thursdays at Foresters’ Hall (South Pinckney Street, 4th floor) and regularly hosted card parties and dances. (The organization apparently shared the Pinckney Street location with the Independent Order of Foresters, one of the world’s largest fraternal societies at the time, which met at the same hall on the second and fourth Thursdays). In 1915 the organization had $100 million of life insurance in force.

The 1921 City Directory lists the group’s meeting place as Woodmen Hall (21-23 West Main). That year, the organization’s annual meeting was held in Madison and Governor John J. Blane gave a welcome address in the Assembly chamber at the State Capital. The state’s Insurance Commissioner also addressed the convention. A banquet followed at the Park Hotel (22 South Carroll) and an evening dance was held.

In 1929, decisions by the organization’s Investment Committee successfully increased assets by nearly 100% during the worst decade in U.S. financial history. The Mystic Workers remained a fraternal benefit society, but was renamed Fidelity Insurance Association at its 1930 convention in St. Louis, Missouri, and local meetings were moved to the second and fourth Fridays.

In 1953, Fidelity Life converted to a mutual legal reserve life company. Shortly thereafter, Fidelity Life became affiliated with a series of life insurance organizations through fee-for-management service agreements. In 2005 Fidelity Life ended this long-standing arrangement and became an independent organization once again.

Charles E. Grove, State Manager

Charles Grove was born in June 1857 in Pennsylvania. He married in 1878 (Mary E.) and settled in Shannon, Illinois sometime prior to 1880, where according to the 1880 Census he worked as a Tailor. His first son, George, was born in 1880, and was 14 followed by another son (Harold) in 1894 and a daughter (Ethel) in 1896. In 1900, the Census listed Grove as an insurance agent residing in Mount Carroll, Illinois, and by 1910, the family had moved to Rock Island, Illinois, where the Census listed Grove as a “superintendent of insurance.” Sometime after 1910, the Groves moved to Madison.

I first found records of the family living on North Butler Street in Madison in the 1916 City Directory, which listed Grove as a traveling salesman. The 1917 City Directory and 1919 City Directory show Grove moved a few blocks away to 219 East Mifflin Street and was working as the State Manager for Mystic Workers of the World. The 1920 Census lists Grove a life insurance agent, but he does not appear in the 1921 City Directory. Grove passed away in Mount Carroll in October 1938 and was buried in Rock Island. (The Illinois Death and Stillbirths Index, 1916-1947 and other contemporary records indicate that Grove resided in the Milwaukee area near the end of his life.)

The mirror is a typical advertising piece, oval in shape and measuring 70 mm at its longest. Tiny text along the lower margin indicates the mirror was manufactured by Ehrmen Manufacturing Company of Boston, Massachusetts, a company that fabricated numerous advertising mirrors and pinback buttons. The inscription is printed in dark blue on a white background.

The mirror’s inscriptions and available biographical and historical information allows us to safely assign a time period in which this advertising piece circulated. The “1,000,000 SURPLUS FUND” notation places the piece sometime after 1915. The identification of “C.E. GROVE, STATE MGR. /MADISON, WIS.” Further refines the time to between 1917 and 1920.

The Company Today

In May 2007, policyholders reorganized Fidelity Life Association. The organization moved from being a mutual legal reserve company to a stock subsidiary of Members Mutual Holding Company. Fidelity Life is now licensed in all states except Wyoming and New York. Policyholders are also members of Members Mutual, while their policies are in force with Fidelity Life. The company has $23.59 billion of life insurance in force, $481 million in admitted assets, and capital and surplus of $196.4 million.

References:

Report of the Wisconsin Commissioner of Insurance, 1912, Vols. 6 & 7.

“Blaine in Welcome to Mystic Workers Here” Capital Times, October 1, 1921.

“F.A. Kremer, Ex-legislator Dies at 67.” Wisconsin State Journal, January 11, 1940.

Fidelity Life Insurance website: www.fidelitylife.com.

Foresters’ 135th Anniversary website: www.foresters135.com.

“Looking Backward: Twenty-five Years Ago Today” Capital Times, July 25, 1931.

Madison, Wisconsin City Directory: 1902, 2907, 1909, 1911, 1916, 1917, 1919, 1921.

“Open Meeting of Mystic Workers Has Supreme Inspection” Capitol Times, April 29, 1928.

Society-Club News: The Mystic Workers. “Wisconsin State Journal, Nov. 12, 1930.

U.S. Census: 1890, 1900, 1910, 1920.

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