Erie Insurance started out with the vision of two men to create an insurance company like no other… one that emphasized customer service above all else. This is the story of that vision—the journey that took ERIE from its humble roots in 1925 to a FORTUNE® 500 company with over 5,000 employees and 5 million policies in force today.

Two men with a dream… both worked at the Pennsylvania Indemnity Exchange (PIE) from 1922 to 1924, but they were not happy with the pay and conditions. By fall 1924, the wheels were in motion to start their own company. When they resigned from the PIE, the company had to hire six salesmen to replace them!

Henry Orth Hirt
1887-1982
H.O. Hirt was a legend in his own time, truly! He was one of five children born to Frank and Sarah Hirt in Erie, Pennsylvania. After putting himself through Wittenberg College, he began a career as a teacher, but after a couple of years, H.O.’s teaching came to a halt when he contracted tuberculosis. After beating the deadly disease, H.O. worked a series of jobs and even brought a fledgling grocery store back to being profitable. But the hard physical labor was not good for his health and he left the grocery business to take a sales job at the Pennsylvania Indemnity Exchange. It’s there he met O.G. Crawford and together they started to build the idea of starting their own mutual insurance company. They resigned in December 1924 and began organizing the Erie Insurance Exchange. H.O. watched the company flourish and worked well into his 80s.

Contact:
120 Corporate Woods
Suite 150
Rochester, NY 14623-1464
Phone: (585) 214-5800
Toll Free: (800) 333-0823
Fax: (585) 214-5899
Toll-Free Fax: (800) 241-8360
Website: https://www.erieinsurance.com