Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company Building
building in Iowa, United States of America
The Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company Building is a historic structure located in Grinnell, Iowa, United States. "The Iowa Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Association was the first statewide organization of its kind in the United States." When it moved to Grinnell from Jefferson, Iowa in 1934 its name was changed to Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company. It was still a relatively small operation at the time that required only simple rented upstairs quarters. The present building was first occupied in 1951, but only the first two floors were built. The top two floors were completed in 1957, and gave the building its present form. The company rented out the first floor to other commercial businesses. Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company moved out of building in 1962 to a larger complex south of Grinnell, and at that time became known as the Grinnell Mutual Reinsurance Company. This building was sold to the General Telephone Company, which occupied the whole building until 1968. The Trustees of Iowa (Grinnell) College, GTE Data of Iowa, and DeLong's Sportswear have all subsequently owned the building.
Des Moines architect Gerald I. Griffith was responsible for designing both phases of the Modern Movement structure.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company Building” as building in Iowa, United States of America. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the places & architecture register because the source frames it as building in Iowa, United States of America. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 14, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q24062057. Authority coordinates are 41.745, -92.725. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1934, 1951, 1957 and 1962.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company Building”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company Building primary sources, Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company Building archive and Farmers research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company Building”?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Farmers Mutual Reinsurance Company Building” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.