The Charles L. Crane Agency was established in 1885, making it the oldest independent insurance agency west of the Mississippi River. It started when Charles L. Crane, son of a steamboat captain, moved to St. Louis and began writing river marine insurance policies for barge owners travelling the Mississippi.
Those policies began a life-long relationship with the St. Louis community that has stood the test of time. Over the next several decades the Crane Agency would grow to insure generations of local businesses and families. Today Crane is licensed in all 50 states and has expanded operation into what is now one of the largest national insurance brokerage firms in the country.