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Item Name
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The Life and Casualty Life Insurance Company
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Creator
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William Albert
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Lede
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The life insurance company that is part of Amy Grant’s family history
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Story-Subject
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The Life and Casualty life insurance company (or L and C company) was founded in Nashville in 1903 by Andrew Mitzell Burton. Burton decided to move to Nashville and start his own firm when his previous employer in Cincinnati closed. He founded his new business on 4th Avenue in a small four-to-five office building. The company’s stated goal was to bring industrial life insurance to working class citizens and farmers by offering a low premium.
In 1957, the company constructed Nashville’s first skyscraper to serve as its new office, placing the skyscraper on the same site as the original modest facility. The L and C tower included 37 stories and rose roughly 409 feet into the air. Today, it is the seventh tallest building in Nashville. Other businesses owned by the L and C company, such as the radio and television station WLAC, were located in the tower, though the studio was later relocated to Music Row.
Amy Grant, a contemporary music star, wrote her song “Mimi’s House” about her great grandmother and great grandfather, Lillie and Andrew Burton. This was the same Andrew Burton who founded the company. She told Vanderbilt News, “Growing up I knew very little about what he had done... It takes some kind of massive legacy for people to remember anybody. That’s why we name buildings for people. All those things are important because there’s no way the next generation is going to know. You have to have a reason to keep telling the story, even if it’s diluted.”
Today the L and C company is still located in Nashville, though it has merged with many companies such as American General Life and Knights Life. The company still brings help to the Nashville area and marks a major staple in the Nashville business sector.
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Subtitle
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Growth of the Business District
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Subject
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Life And Casualty Insurance Company
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Source
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File #7:
https://omeka4.mtsu.edu/files/original/b2005cdd36fe3ebb30e497da50e5cc05.jpg
Source Life and Casualty Tower, circa 1960
RG3, Metropolitan Government Archives of Nashville
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Official Website of historic site/monument
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https://www.nashvilledowntown.com/go/landc-tower
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Related Resources
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Robertson, Seth. “Amy Grant, ’82, Finds Inspiration and Purpose in the Power of Community.” Vanderbilt Magazine, December 23, 2014.
Downtown Nashville Partnership. “L and C Tower.” Downtown Nashville Partnership, n.d. https://www.nashvilledowntown.com/go/landc-tower.
Life and Casualty Tower, circa 1960
RG3, Metropolitan Government Archives of Nashville
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Bibliographic Citation
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William Albert, “The Life and Casualty Life Insurance Company,” Bygone Nashville, accessed September 18, 2025, https://bygone-nashville.mtsu.edu/admin/items/show/5.
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Title/Location
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The Life and Casualty Life Insurance Company
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Address
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401 Church St Nashville, TN 37219
