The Svea Mutual Insurance Company is one of the largest Farm Mutuals in the State of Illinois.  It's pronounced svay-uh.

In the early 1860s, settlers from Sweden in the Bishop Hill-Altona area felt the need for some form of easily understood protection from losses caused by fire and lightning.  Through cooperation, trust and friendship, they formed an organization whereby they could share each other's burdens in a time of loss, basically dividing the total dollar amount lost in a year by the number of members, then each member paying his fair share at the annual meeting.  Initially, the membership was limited to Swedish speaking people in Knox, Henry and Mercer Counties.

By an act passed by the Illinois House of Representatives in 1865, the Company was formed.  In 1869, the Company was incorporated, and the small group of Swedish settlers who banded together to form this organization was now called the Svea Mutual Protective Insurance Company of Knox, Henry and Mercer Counties.

Until 1896 the Company confined itself exclusively to writing only fire and lightning insurance, but at the annual meeting held that year in Bishop Hill the membership decided to also offer windstorm and tornado insurance coverage.  By the end of that first year, 435 tornado policies had been issued in the amount of $381,566.  After the Galva tornado of 1903, a five mill tornado assessment was collected at year's end.  (A mill was a fraction of money based on a policyholder's total coverage.)  Twelve years would pass before we would require our policyholders to pay another year-end tornado assessment.

In 1916 the by-laws were amended to include not only Swedish speaking people, but anyone of Swedish descent or people linked to a Swede through marriage.  Finally, in 1920, the Company went on record and opened its doors to all good risks, regardless of "race, color, nationality or previous condition of servitude." 

The Village of Orion became Svea's home in 1927 when a building was erected to serve as an office of the Company and "a place to store records."  The present home office at 1103 4th Street was constructed in 1973, with additions added in 1976 and 1984.

In 1966 the mode of billing was changed from post assessment to prepay, and in 1975 our name was shortened to Svea Mutual Insurance Company.

 A Note About Our Name

Contrary to popular belief, the name of our company is not an acronym (it's Svea, not S.V.E.A.). It has been researched by many different organizations throughout the years, and to date no concrete explanation has surfaced that would explain the origin of the name, Svea. In Sweden, Svea is the feminine form of the popular Sven, and somewhere in the country's folklore is a Mother Svea, much like our Lady Liberty, or Uncle Sam (scholars tell us "Moder Svea" is a reference to the country of Sweden). Also, there is a region near Stockholm called Svea. Most likely, patriotism for their home country was the overriding factor in how the name of our company was initially chosen.