Security Life & Trust…a local growth company…

As always, click the pix for larger size where available…

Greensboro based D.H. Griffin has begun demolition of the 1963 Security Life & Trust building

In 1920, George Grimsley and C.C. Taylor began Security Life & Trust Company in Greensboro. By 1923 they had $6.8 million worth of insurance policies in force, but the directors were worried that they did not have enough assets to cover the policies, so launched a campaign to increase their financial resources. Robert M. Hanes of Wachovia Bank & Trust in Winston-Salem offered to raise an immediate $500,000 if the company would move to the Twin City. The directors agreed. Hanes actually raised about $725,000 and the company was soon operating in its offices above the Clinard Electric Company at 223 North Main Street.

The first local offices of Security Life were located above the Clinard Electric Company in the building at the right at 223 North Main, across the alley from the 1906 Zinzendorf Hotel. This picture was taken in 1917. By  the time Security arrived in 1923, the Motor Company had relocated to its own building at Liberty and Third. Digital Forsyth

Soon, they needed much more space, so in 1928 took over the former J.K. Norfleet mansion at 420 North Spruce Street. By then, the company’s board of directors roster read like a who’s who of the Twin City: Dr. Fred Hanes, Thurmond Chatham, Agnew Bahnson, C.T. Leinbach, B.S. Womble, S. Clay Williams, and soon, Charles Babcock. Under president Egbert Davis, the growth rate increased.

The Norfleet house at 420 North Spruce. 1928-1932

The Shore house, 1281 West Fourth. 1932-1951

In 1932, the main headquarters was moved into a larger mansion which had formerly belonged to K.E. “Ned” Shore at 1281 West Fourth Street. Soon the company had added two fireproof concrete wings to that building. But by the late 1940s, they needed much more space. The Norfleet mansion on Spruce Street was demolished and a modern four story office building designed by Gorrell Stinson and Robert Arey opened there in 1951. Soon that too was inadequate. In 1963, Don Hines of Stinson, Hall, Hines & Associates added two stories to the 1951 building and attached a new six story building to the east, cladding the whole thing in aluminum.

The 1951 Security Life & Trust building on Spruce Street. That is the original WSJS radio studio at far left, known in its time as “broadcast house”, recently occupied by the NC Black Repertory Company as its new headquarters.

 

On June 13, 1963, this ad ran in the Twin City Sentinel, offering free tours, refreshments and souvenirs at the next day’s grand opening of the Twin City’s highest tech building.

By then, Tully Blair had succeeded Egbert Davis. Shortly afterward, J. Edwin Collette succeeded him as president of Security Life. Ed’s role in the company’s development affected the architecture of the new building. He had spent years of overtime converting the company’s records from pen and ink to digital, making Security one of the first such companies to completely computerize their operations. The presence of huge mainframe computers required sophisticated temperature and air quality control, thus the windowless aluminum look.

The lineup for the ribbon cutting of the 1963 building. You’ll have to go way back to find a more distinguished group of local leaders.

The Security Life logo being attached in 1963

Interior of the new Integon, 1969. Few NC businesses could match their computer power in those days.

In 1969, Security took the name Integon, which became an umbrella for their growing variety of operations. And by then they were already thinking about a bigger building. They already owned most of the block between Fourth, Fifth, Spruce and Poplar Streets. On the northeast corner were two historic houses built by 19^th century businessman H.D. Poindexter. When the last of Poindexter’s daughters died in 1977, Integon acquired the property. They gave the houses to a local preservation group and helped pay the cost of moving them to West End Boulevard. And they hired internationally known Welton Becket and Associates to design an 18 story skyscraper. They broke ground for that building on February 17, 1978. Almost three years later, in December 1980, NC Governor Jim Hunt helped cut the ribbon.

These two late 19th century residences, both built at different times by successful merchant Henry Dalton Poindexter, from East Bend, stood in the way of Integon’s rapid growth. Integon purchased them in 1977, and gave them to a local preservation group, which moved them to West End Boulevard. Integon then hired Welton Becket & Associates to begin planning one of the Twin City’s most iconic skyscrapers. Digital Forsyth

 

Welton Becket & Associates drawing for the new 18 story Integon Building

 

Groundbreaking for the 1982 Integon building

 

Lifting granite panels

In the mid-1990s, Integon was acquired by General Motors. The company operated as GMAC (General Motors Assurance Corporation) until the early 2000s when GMAC split, its financial wing becoming Ally, while the insurance business eventually became National General, a name from the old Integon holding company. National General still maintains its headquarters at Madison Park in Winston-Salem, employing about 7,750 people nationwide.

Above and below, some of the men who built Security Life & Trust into a national company

J. Edwin Collette, Wake Forest College yearbook, 1939

 

The third headquarters of Security Life & Trust still stands today on West Fourth Street. The building was erected in 1919 as a residence for Kerner E. “Ned” and Bessie Nissen Shore. Ned owned the local Cadillac dealership. From 1932-1951 it was the headquarters of the Security Life & Trust Company. In the early 1950s it became a training facility for Western Electric engineers. In 1969 it was purchased by Jacqueline D. Jackson (Jacqueline Dorminy) to become her home and house a variety of her dance studios. She died in 2005.

What’s in a name?

For 49 years (1920-1969) it was Security Life & Trust, insurance and financial services. So why change the name? Well, by the late 1960s, Security had grown enormously, had acquired other companies and had branched out into other fields. There was Security Life, Security Fire, Security General, SDS Management and Security Services. That last division weighed heavily in the decision. While transforming Security’s information database from analog to digital, Ed Collette had not just supervised. He had become something of an expert in computer programming himself, and Security Services had become a computer programming operation.

The decision to change the name did not come lightly. A committee was appointed to study the matter. Once the decision was made, the company hired Lippincott & Margulies, the top consultants on corporate identity, to advise them. L&G conducted endless interviews with Security employees and customers and a wide range of experts in the field. The committee endured endless hours of meetings and discussions. Lawyers endured endless hours of research regarding legal rights to many names. Finally, the name Integon was created, a unique word. Lippincott & Margulies set about designing a new logo device.

Security printed a two page brochure which explained in detail the choice. They hired the Carolina Theater on Fourth Street and convened a meeting of all Security employees, who received copies of the brochure and on stage in person clarifications from members of the committee. The first week of February, 1969, Security Life & Trust officials oversaw the hoisting of three new 400 pound six sided Integon logo devices onto the 1963 Spruce Street building.

On March 2, 1970, Integon filed for federal trademark protection, which was granted on January 5, 1971 by the USPTO, receiving serial number 72352726. In the blank on the form asking for type of business, Integon wrote “Computer programming service”.