WALTER W. SCHULTZ INSURANCE
AGENCY TURNS 100

One-time post office, dry goods purveyor, and real estate shop is all in on serving insurance clients while seeking new business

By Cheryl Abbott

The Walter W. Schultz Insurance Agency was founded on January 23, 1923, by Walter W. Schultz and his father, Charles C. Schultz. It was established for the purpose of offering insurance, real estate, and dry goods.

The agency’s first office was located at 18100 Torrence Avenue in Oak Glen, Illinois, which later became Lansing, Illinois. In 1930, the dry goods business was phased out and the business moved to its current location at 18119 Torrence Avenue.

We attribute our longevity to the service we provide our clients and the many families
we have served for so many years. We treat each customer as family

In the beginning, the hybrid operation also served as the Oak Glen Post Office, with Walter W. Schultz as the postmaster. Over time, the real estate business was discontinued, and in the mid-1950s, the post office moved to Hartfield’s Delicatessen, and that allowed the agency to place all of its focus on selling insurance.

The agency crossed paths with Rough Notes magazine nearly 45 years ago, in May 1978, when the magazine published an article by Walter W. Schultz titled “Claims Provide Opportunity to Demonstrate Service.” Today the agency is owned by Walter W. Schultz’s son-in-law, Norman Abbott (who was married to the late Diane Schultz-Abbott), and is run by their daughter, Cheryl Abbott.

We have a staff of six, some of whom are full time, while others work for us part time. Our first employee, Mildred Ogborn, was hired on July 9, 1942, and worked for us for 37 years. She still lives in Lansing and is 98 years young.

Walter W. Schultz Insurance Agency offers the community all lines of business: auto, home, life, health, and business. The mix of business we write is 80% personal lines, 15% commercial lines, and 5% life and health.

We’re currently looking to hire new agents to help us grow our book of business
and take us into the next century.

In the mid-1980s we started using an automation system from AGENA. The backup disks at that time were around 18 inches wide and two inches thick. We’ve come a long way since those days and currently use Vertafore’s AMS360 in-house as our management system.

We attribute our longevity to the service we provide our clients and the many families we have served for so many years. We treat each customer as family.

We’ve also been blessed with very low staff turnover during all our years in business. We’re currently looking to hire new agents to help us grow our book of business and take us into the next century.

The author

Cheryl Abbott is chief operating officer of Walter W. Schultz Insurance Agency.

Do you know of an independent agency we should feature that has been in business for 100 years or more?
If so, please send background information and email addresses to Elisabeth Boone, CPCU
(elis.boone@icloud.com). We’ll take it from there