By David J Thompson

This year, 2002, marks the 250th anniversary of the first successful form of cooperative organization in America. In 1752, Benjamin Franklin initiated the first successful cooperative in America, the "Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire".

The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire" continues to serve members in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. It continues to operate as a mutual. The "Contributionship" is the first mutual in the USA, the oldest insurance company and the third oldest corporation in the country. 2002 marks 250 years of mutuals and cooperatives serving Americans who band together for economic benefit. Let's give Benjamin Franklin a big hand for fathering economic democracy in America.

Another mutual fire insurance company had been started in 1735 Charleston, South Carolina but had been bankrupted by a fire in 1740 which had raged throughout the city burning down hundreds of buildings. Their mutual insurance company did not have enough equity to cover the losses. The Philadelphia and Charleston models were based upon mutual insurance companies which had been developed in England.

With fire a perpetual threat among the crowded side by side wooden houses of Philadelphia, safety was a necessity. The cause of and the prevention of fire were great interests of Franklin. In 1736, Franklin initiated the Union Fire Company as a company of thirty volunteer fire fighters to assist in putting out fires. In his call for members he first used the phrase, "An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure". By 1752 there were eight other volunteer fire fighting companies throughout other Philadelphia neighborhoods. If you had no fire mark on your building the volunteers would just stand and watch your house burn down. If you had the fire mark of a particular company, only they would put out your fire. The rest of the volunteer companies that arrived would go home.

Through his study of the consequences of fire Franklin had researched other organizations. It is quite likely that Franklin or one of his colleagues copied the documents of an organization in London, England, the "Amicable Contributionship for Insuring Houses from Loss by Fire, known there by its Fire Mark as the Hand-in-Hand. Members of the various mutuals displayed the Fire Mark of the company they belonged to on the side of their buildings. A similar four hands clasped together Fire Mark was adopted by the new Philadelphia organization. Franklin called upon the citizens of Philadelphia to subscribe to membership in the mutual and to meet on April 13, 1752 where the Deed of Settlement would be adopted.

On that day the members gathered at the Philadelphia Court House to elect the Board of Directors. The first meeting of the elected Board of Directors was held on May 11, 1752. Thus began the first formal successful cooperative and mutual organization in the Colonies. Just like the Rochdale Pioneers, the first effort to form a cooperative in the 1830's had failed but the second effort was to be successful and to make history.

Today, over 100 million American households are members of mutuals, cooperatives and credit unions. Like Ben Franklin's mark by clasping our hands together we enjoy the strength of unity and the power of numbers. Throughout the rest of this year, "the Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire" is celebrating the birth of their organization 250 years ago.

Benjamin Franklin like Charles Haworth of the Rochdale Pioneers and Father Arizmendiarrieta of the Mondragon Cooperatives was an institution builder. Time after time, Franklin gathered people together to form new institutions to meet citizen needs. One after the other, Franklin founded the; Library Company (1731), Union Fire Company (1736), American Philosophical Society (1743), University of Philadelphia (1749), Pennsylvania Hospital (1751), and the Philadelphia Contributionship (1752). Each one of them was formed from a call to public membership and the election of a Board of Directors. None would be private and all of the institutions he founded continue to be open to and to serve the public. The Union Fire Company, whose duties were later taken over by the city, is the only one of Franklin's institutions not in existence today.

Franklin's commitment to cooperative organizations and mutual economics were to have unseen influence upon the founding of the United States of America. When the first Continental Congress met in Philadelphia in 1774 they chose to use the ground floor of Carpenter's Hall. The Hall was owned mutually by its member carpenters. At that time Carpenter Hall had rented out the second floor to the Library Company (18 Library Company members were also members of the Carpenters Company). Samuel Adams complemented the Continental Congress site selection committee for having taken a "view of the Room and of the Chamber where is an excellent Library." At the end of the meeting, Congress expressed its thanks to the Library Company for the use if its books. When the Second Continental Congress met again in 1785 the Library again offered its books for the gathering. Nine signers of the Declaration of Independence were also members of the Library Company. The Library Company was in effect the First Library of Congress. Both Carpenter's Hall and the Library Company were insured by the first formal mutual in America, the Philadelphia Contributionship.

Thus, the beginnings of freedom in the United States of America were assured through mutuals and cooperatives. They met in a building mutually owned, they used the books of a cooperative library to confirm their future and all around them was insured by the Philadelphia Contributionship. At hand during the proceedings was the wisdom of Benjamin Franklin who gave the sunset of his life to create the sunrise of a nation.

As cooperators we have the opportunity to commemorate and reflect upon an idea brought forward in the United States by one of our nation's founding fathers. Benjamin Franklin, over 100 million households' thank you for initiating the enduring idea of mutuality and cooperation. You contributed not only to the birth of a nation but to a democratic and economic tool that serves our lives in many different ways.

David J. Thompson is a co-op activist and historian and is author of Weavers of Dreams. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Davis Food Co-op and President of the Twin Pines Cooperative Foundation. Copyright 2002.