It is celebrating its charter — issued on August 2, 1950 — and the December 1985 opening of its Fairfield headquarters.
The company had been operating out of the former Glenmary monastery in Springdale.
“Fairfield warmly welcomed us 40 years ago and since then we’ve built strong relationships throughout the city,” said Steve Spray, president and chief executive officer of CFC.
“Fairfield also provides wonderful amenities for our associates who choose to live and work here. We are proud to call Fairfield home.”
Credit: Zoe Kremer Photography LLC
Credit: Zoe Kremer Photography LLC
Fairfield has proclaimed December “Cincinnati Insurance Month” in recognition of the company’s milestones. It is the city’s largest employer and Butler County’s second largest employer behind Miami University, said David Fehr, Butler County’s director of development.
Fehr said the county data was accurate as of April 1, 2024. That’s when Miami had 3,644 employees. A new survey goes out in the first quarter of 2026, but he doesn’t expect the rankings to change much, if at all.
Since those early days the property and casualty insurance provider has grown exponentially with annual revenues exceeding $11.3 billion in 2024.
“It’s hard to overstate the company’s impact on our city and region. It’s remarkable to have a business of this size – often ranking in the Fortune 500 – to list its corporate address as Fairfield, Ohio,” said Nathaniel Kaelin, the city’s economic development manager.
“The company’s many associates shop at businesses. They volunteer at local organizations and many live in our city. You can feel their presence all over the city.”
Business has grown
The land the company sits on was purchased from historian and lifelong Fairfield resident Esther Benzing, who died in 2002 at the age of 99. She also sold a portion of the farm on which Mercy Health-Fairfield Hospital now sits, on Mack Road.
In 40 years, the Cincinnati Financial campus has expanded from one tower that opened in December 2025 to three towers today with 1.2 million square feet of space, said Betsy Ertel, vice president of corporate marketing and communications.
All of the underwriting and business operations are at the Fairfield campus along with the finance, claims associates, human resources and marketing departments, Ertel said.
Another 2,000 independent ages representing CFC work from their homes.
The company also owns the adjacent Gilmore Pointe building on the corner of South Gilmore and Mack roads.
A CINFIN TIMELINE
- 1950: Independent agents John J. Schiff, Robert Schiff, Chester Field and Harry Turner form the Cincinnati Insurance Co. operating out of a small building on Cincinnati’s Central Parkway.
- 1951: Cincinnati Insurance issues its first policy on Jan. 25.
- 1955: After the passage of the Ohio Multiple Line bill, Cincinnati Insurance offers a comprehensive homeowners package policy.
- 1959: Stock options are offered to associates.
- 1968: Cincinnati Insurance establishes a new holding company, Cincinnati Financial Corp. – the third insurance company in Cincinnati area to do so.
- 1973: Cincinnati Financial adds wholly owned subsidiaries, Queen City Indemnity Co. and the Life Insurance Co. of Cincinnati. Inter-Ocen Corp. and its three wholly owned subsidiaries merge with Cincinnati Financial through an exchange of stock.
- 1988: The Cincinnati Life Insurance Co. is formed from the two previous life subsidiaries – The Life Insurance Co. of Cincinnati and Inter-Ocean Insurance Co.
- 1991: Cincinnati Insurance reaches more than $1 billion in direct written premiums for a single year.
- 1997: Cincinnati Financial stock is added to the Standard and Poor 500
- 2007: Two new subsidiaries, The Cincinnati Specialty Underwriters Insurance Co. and CSU Producer Resources Inc. are incorporated to provide excess and surplus lines insurance products, issuing its first policy Jan. 1, 2008.
- 2009: Cincinnati Insurance launches e-CLAS CPP – a policy administration system for commercial package and auto policies
- 2010: Cincinnati Insurance launches Diamond – a policy administration system for personal lines policies
- 2015: Cincinnati Insurance introduces Cincinnati RE and assembles a team to assess, quantify, price, and manage reinsurance assumed risk.
- 2019: Cincinnati Financial acquires Lloyd’s of London Syndicate 318 and its managing agency now known as Cincinnati Global Underwriting Agency.
- 2021: The United States Patent and Trademark office issues Cincinnati Insurance its first patent for the technology that powers Cinergy – a new small business platform.
About the Author