Fuller Manly returned from the Civil War and finished his education at the University of Alabama, where his father, Basil Manly, had served as its second President in the years before the War. Partnering with his father, he began R. F. Manly and Company, the predecessor to Robinson-Adams Insurance. R. F. Manly and Company was originally located in Mobile, but moved to the boomtown of Birmingham in the late 1880's.

They operated as agents selling stocks, bonds, real estate insurance and even typewriters in the first office at the corner of 5th Avenue and 20th Street in Birmingham. Early advertisements spoke of "Good insurance - of all kinds" providing "Bonds - For integrity and honesty in all positions of trust and execution of contracts".

From that original location, which is now the financial center of Birmingham, R. F. Manly and Company contributed to Birmingham's growth and development throughout the Twentieth Century. Tom Adams, Sr. began Robinson-Adams Insurance, Inc. in 1944 and later in the 1960's acquired the R. F. Manly accounts. His sons, Richard and Tom Adams, Jr., are great and great-great grandchildren of Fuller and Basil Manly of R. F. Manly and Company.

In 1954, Tom Adams, Sr. established an affiliate company, Auction Insurance Agency. AIA now provides insurance protection for the vast majority of vehicles sold at wholesale automobile auctions throughout the U.S. and Canada. This Check & Title insurance is now underwritten by Robinson-Adams' affiliated company, Centennial Casualty Company. In 1999, as part of an expanded loss prevention effort a new affiliate, AutoTec, LLC., created Auction ACCESS, a database of over 90,000 automobile dealerships and 250,000 representatives. These representatives use their Auction ACCESS photo ID cards to access auctions and buy more than 175,000 cars each week. Another new Robinson-Adams affiliate, Red Mountain Technologies, checks automobile histories on over 1,500,000 vehicles sold through auctions each month.

Robinson-Adams is now operating in its third century with sixth generation family members as part of a team of over 150 professionals providing personal and business insurance and risk management for a wide array of clients.