Mason Insurance, an insurance agency based in Orange County, Virginia, recently celebrated its 125
th anniversary. The company is one of the oldest businesses in the area (if not the oldest), and is proudly one of the oldest family-run insurance agencies in the state.
The agency has helped the residents of Orange with their insurance needs, particularly during the Mineral earthquake of 2011, the North American blizzard of 2009, and the North American derecho of June 2012.
While it was business as usual for owners Chuck Mason and Bryan Hargett despite the agency's annivesary, the two looked back at the company’s 125 years of history.
“We didn’t sell out to a bank and really don’t want to do so,” Mason told
Culpaper Star-Exponent.
Mason Insurance was founded in 1891 by V. R. Shackleford and Allen Warren, then called Shackleford and Warren. It was only after traveling salesman Barton Mason’s purchase of the company in 1908 and his full acquisition of the company from his partners in 1920 that the agency adopted its current namesake.
Ben Hargett, father of Bryan, bought into the business in 1969. Bryan himself joined in 1996.
Chuck Mason originally worked for a bank in Baltimore for a few years after graduating from college. His father, however, called him back in 1975 to help out with the family business.
“He told me, ‘You’re not from Baltimore, and you haven’t been to graduate school. You’ll always be working for someone else there.’ So I came back,” Chuck said.
Hargett also shared that he was originally working out of state in another state before joining Mason. Prior to his current role, he was an underwriter based in Washington.
“I wanted to get out, but after a taste of urbanity I didn’t mind coming back. Raising a family here and living life in Orange was attractive,” Hargett said.
Both have underlined that while technology has changed the way the company conducts business, they are committed to the community and will try to offer traditional services as needed.
“We sell commercial, personal and farm insurance, so our clients can get everything they need, and we like to meet face to face,” Hargett remarked.
Hargett also said that serving the company’s most loyal customers and paying attention to renewals sets them apart among their more contemporary counterparts.
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