Jefferson Fire Insurance Company, 425 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, ca. 1930s-1940s

The Jefferson Fire Insurance Company of Philadelphia was chartered in 1855 by Philip Schmidt, Gustavus Lembert, Robert Q. Schelmerdine, Peter A. Keyser Jr., Daniel Underkofler, and others. It survived the Civil War and by 1900 had over $390,000 in assets, mostly invested in conservative local mortgages, capital of $100,000, and a surplus over twice that sum. Its revenues were small but it paid dividends ranging from 10 to 18 percent