The Allstate Corporation is an American insurance company, headquartered in Northfield Township, Illinois, near Northbrook, since 1967. Founded in 1931 as part of Sears, Roebuck and Co., it was spun off in 1993, but was still partially owned by Sears until it became completely an independent company in June 1995. The company also has personal lines insurance operations in Canada. Allstate is a large corporation, and with 2018 revenues of $39.8 billion, it ranked 79th in the 2019 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States corporations by total revenue. Its long-running advertising campaign, in use since 1950, asks, "Are you in good hands?", and the recognizable logo portrays a suburban-style dwelling cradled protectively in a pair of giant human hands. History In 1925, Sears held a national contest to decide the name of a new brand of car tires. After over two million name submissions, "Allstate" was chosen. The trademark was adopted the next year. The tires' success in the catalog and retail stores prompted Sears Chairman General Robert E. Wood to praise the Allstate tire's contribution to Sears' retail store success. The idea for Allstate Insurance Company came during a bridge game on a commuter train in 1930, when insurance broker Carl L. Odell proposed to Wood, his neighbor, the idea of selling auto insurance by direct mail. The idea appealed to Wood, and he passed the proposal along to the Sears board of directors, which approved it. Allstate Insurance Company, named after Sears’ tire brand, went into business on April 17, 1931, offering auto insurance by direct mail and through the Sears catalog. This was in line with one of the objectives of a company to sell automobile insurance in the same manner as Sears sold its merchandise. Lessing J. Rosenwald was Allstate's first board chairman, and Odell was named vice president and secretary. In 1933, at the Century of Progress World's Fair in Chicago, Allstate's Richard E. Roskam sold insurance at a booth in the Sears pavilion. In 1934, Allstate opened its first permanent sales office in a Chicago Sears store. In 1941, only about a quarter of US drivers had auto liability insurance. This led to the state of New York passing a law that established the financial responsibility of drivers for damage or injuries resulting from auto mishaps. That law inspired legislation in other states, and by the mid-1950s, nearly every state had some