Ever since we signed our first policy in 1925, ERIE has built its reputation on customer service and our culture has deep roots. The Erie Insurance Heritage Center reflects a time when the building served as the home office for ERIE from 1938-1956. It's a step back in time, complete with rotary telephones and typewriters.
TRANSCRIPT: Look directly across the street from ERIE's corporate offices and you'll see the stunning arts and craft style building that is home to the Erie Insurance Heritage Center. The 1912 building, now on the National Register of Historic Places, served as ERIE's home office from 1938 to 1956. You can see why ERIE's co-founder, HO Hirt fell in love with this place, which was once the national headquarters of the CF Adams company, a supplier of home furnishings. Daylight flooded the atrium through the vaulted ceiling, making it the perfect place for ERIE employees to work. Listen carefully, and you can almost hear the clickety clack of 40 typewriters and employees answering a dozen rotary telephones. In time, Erie Insurance grew and prospered far beyond these walls. The values instilled by co-founders HO Hirt and OG Crawford gave rise to the highly respected, competitive Fortune 500 company it is today, a company that embraces its past as it looks to the future. ERIE's unique success story comes to life inside the Erie Insurance Heritage Center. The impeccably restored 8,000 square foot building features galleries and multi-media exhibits drawn from family scrapbooks and ERIE's extensive archives. A rich collection of photos, speeches, letters, and artifacts traces nearly a century of service. The company's passion for preservation can be found in its attention to authenticity. Step inside the claims manager's office, and you'll find it just as he left it. Catch this eye-popping headline, and you'll be tempted to continue reading, just as HO intended when he placed the ad in 1928. Discover little known correspondence between a World War II orphan and HO Hirt that began a long tradition of company giving. There is much more to be learned from this thriving business that puts the needs of others above its own. Picture HO Hirt behind the wheel of his legendary 1964 Lincoln Continental. HO, always ahead of his time, had lap safety belts installed long before they became mandatory in the nation's automobiles. If Erie Insurance was going to launch a safety campaign, he would lead by example. Iconic, inspirational leaders started many of America's most successful companies. Today, everyone wants to know what made these entrepreneurs tick. How could a business plan written on a 10 cent tablet become a billion dollar company? At Erie Insurance, clues can be found in HO Hirt's office, where underwriters, adjusters, agents, and sometimes even policyholders would pull up their chairs for a lesson in what it meant to be, above all, in service. HO was a former teacher, after all, and he taught his students well. With over 90 years of history behind us, Erie Insurance looks ahead to the next 90 years, continuing our timeless mission to be, above all, in service.