The community of Hoover began as a seed planted in the young mind of William Henry Hoover Sr. (1890-1979). Hoover's father dreamed of a city for working families, and the younger Hoover used this vision as a road map to build a strong municipality that grew with business, community, and family living. Through hard work and determination, Hoover opened Employers Mutual of Alabama's first office in Birmingham in 1922. He later founded the early town of Hoover in 1954 and in 1958 moved his company to the area that would be incorporated in 1967 as the city of Hoover. Several nearby communities are older than the city itself. Images of America: Hoover looks at Bluff Park, Shades Mountain, Rocky Ridge, Green Valley, and Patton (Patton's) Chapel as some of the early areas where Hoover's great story began.