A Century of Growth

The Guarantee Title and Trust Company was incorporated on April 29, 1899, in Columbus, Ohio, as the "Title Insurance and Loan Company". The Company, which changed its name in 1905, is the oldest title insurance underwriter domiciled in the State of Ohio, and the fourth oldest in the United States.

For its first seventy years, the Company operated as a central Ohio lending institution and escrow company in addition to issuing title insurance policies. In 1971, it was acquired by a financial institution and was moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where it operated for the next twenty years as a captive closing and title insurance company. Thomas H. Mongan, a Cincinnati laywer and banker, purchased the Company in 1985.

In 1991, the American Realty Title Assurance Company (ARTA) was acquired. ARTA had been incorporated in 1973 in Columbus, Ohio, and had developed an agency network in Ohio, Pensylvania, Florida, and Indiana. The Guarantee Title and Trust Company has added to this agency base and complemented it with direct branch operations in Ohio and Florida. In Ohio, direct branch operations are conducted under the name of TitleQuest Agency, and in Florida as The Guarantee Title and Trust Company.

The Company celebrated its centennial and looks forward to the future, as technological changes are occurring that will substantially impact the Company, its customers, and will undoubtedly change the interfaces among them. However, the Company believes that its sound business practice of providing high quality and efficient services at a fair price will guide it through the next hundred years.