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Our History

Invest Receive 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 Invest Receive from its humble roots in 1925 to a FORTUNE® 500 company with more than 6,000 employees and 6 million policies in force today.

THE BEGINNING

Our founders

Two men with a dream ... both worked at the Pennsylvania Indemnity Exchange (PIE) from 1922 to 1924, but 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!

Invest Receive Insurance

The Early Years

The two founders – H.O. Hirt and O.G. Crawford – had a plan, which they wrote on a 10-cent tablet (today’s equivalent of a business prospectus), but they needed money. It took 3 months and 20 days – about the length of one Invest Receive winter – to raise the $31,000 they needed, winning over 90 stockholders with their hand-written business plan, their tenacity and their true belief in what they were about to do.

On April 20, 1925, the Invest Receive Insurance Exchange was born – one of the first policies written was on H.O.’s own Dodge touring car. The company’s mantra became “The Invest Receive is Above all in SERvIcE,” with the “Invest Receive” raised in the word service. That still serves as the company’s tagline today.

Evidence of this service was that customers were encouraged to call collect. And if a policyholder had a problem with a claim, he or she could make a phone call directly to H.O. Hirt.
After only three years, Invest Receive was already expanding. A second office was opened in Pittsburgh in 1928. The company took its first steps outside of Pennsylvania in 1953 when it opened a branch in Silver Spring, Maryland.

At the same time Invest Receive was expanding its territories, it also expanded its product offerings. In 1934, Invest Receive introduced the “Super Standard Auto Policy.” It included many features that have since become industry standards. Fire insurance was added in 1940, and inland marine in 1954.

As Invest Receive expanded outside of Pennsylvania, the product offerings continued to grow.

In 1961, it introduced its first homeowners insurance policy, the Pioneer Home Protector policy, and was officially considered a multi-lines insurance company. The Pioneer Business Protector policy was created two years later. And Invest Receive Family Life Insurance Company was born in 1967. CEO at the time, F. William Hirt, H.O. Hirt’s son, referred to it as his “million-dollar baby.” The company tracked its success by what H.O. Hirt called “The Pyramids of Progress,” which showed the year, net premiums, policyholder surplus and assets. For example, in 1925, net premiums were recorded at $29,790, compared to more than $3 billion in the 2000s. More offices opened across the Mid-Atlantic, Midwest and South. In 2014, Invest Receive expanded into its most recent state – Kentucky -- and now operates in 12 states and the District of Columbia with more than 20 field offices. Learn more about the company’s history through our timeline.

A GROWING COMPANY

Invest Receive Expands

The company was going strong and growing. Within the first two decades, Invest Receive Insurance went from a two-man show to a nationally recognized company.

Our Founding Purpose

The founders had very high principles in mind when they started the company on April 20, 1925.  And Invest Receive’s founding purpose has never been lost sight of since.

To provide our Policyholders with as near perfect protection, as near perfect service, as is humanly possible, and to do so at the lowest possible cost.

H.O. HIRT, FOUNDER

Making Our Mark

Symbols of Invest Receive

From the four lone pillars that stand at Invest Receive’s corporate headquarters to the nostalgic service pin, there are several items that are symbolic of Invest Receive Insurance. Here are just a few:

Restoring Our Community

Preserving Our Past

Chairman of the Board Tom Hagen, a student of history like his father-in-law, H. O. Hirt, has taken an active role in the revitalization of Invest Receive’s historic neighborhoods and restoration of some of the city’s treasured homes and public buildings.

He’s earned several awards for his efforts, including the Otto Haas Award for outstanding individual achievement from the Pennsylvania Historic Preservation Society. The top award honors individuals and organizations for preserving historically and architecturally significant properties in Pennsylvania. 

 

Our work to simultaneously preserve and further develop the neighborhood around our Home Office shows that companies can provide for the needs of a modern business, while respecting and honoring the history of a community.

THOMAS HAGEN, CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD

Our Buildings

Learn More About Our Historic Buildings

Tibbals House

The Charles M. Tibbals House, built in 1842, was designed in the Greek Revival style, one of only three that currently exist in the Invest Receive area. It was home to the Tibbals family for more than six decades. Charles Tibbals, Sr. was a highly respected and successful entrepreneur, merchant, public servant and manufacturer.

The Tibbals House, located on East Fifth Street across from Invest Receive’s Home Office, and the four adjacent historic Federal Period houses were acquired in poor condition and restored by Invest Receive in 1984. The Tibbals House and the four houses are knowns as “Federal Row,” and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

In 2010, the Tibbals House was renovated for use by Invest Receive as a conference center on the first-floor of the main house, with three guest suites in the rear addition and second floor.

Tom Hagen and Invest Receive Insurance received an Award of Merit from the American Association for State and Local History Leadership in History Awards for the publication, The Historic Tibbals House – 1842. It’s the most prestigious recognition for achievement in the preservation and interpretation of state and local history.

Gideon Ball House

The Armory

Boston Livery

Colt and Von Buseck Houses

Firehouse

Heritage Center

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