“The Hay Mutual Insurance Company has been in the fire insurance business for over 120 years. The ground work for the company was laid by [Hay] township pioneers when a notice appeared in the local newspaper on August 8, 1874. The advertisement called for a public meeting on the possibility of establishing a farmer’s mutual fire insurance company.’The undersigned members of the Evangelical Association and others have concluded to call a Public Meeting of the said members and others on Saturday, September 5, 1874 at 6 o’clock in the meeting house on the Bronson Line in the Township of Hay of which this shall be notice whether it is expedient to establish a Farmer’s Fire Insurance Company upon the Mutual Principle for the County of Huron (sic).’

As a result of that meeting, subscription books were opened to secure subscribers and a licence was obtained from the government to transact mutual fire insurance business. A public meeting was called again, at the Salem Evangelical Church on the Goshen Line, on January 1, 1875. Directors were then elected for the new Hay Township Farmer’s Mutual Fire Insurance Company. The directors were John Geiger, Henry Dirstein, Samuel Rannie, David Hostetler, Henry Boller, Adam Sacks, Daniel Surerus, Bernhard Faist and Abraham Lehman.

At the first board meeting, held at Prang’s Hotel in Zurich, John Geiger was elected president. Henry Dirstein was chosen as the manager, secretary-treasurer and the company’s agent, receiving a $1.50 commission for every application accepted. For the first five years, only non-hazardous farmer’s risks, churches and schools, were insured for a premium of five cents for every $100 of insurance. The insurance premiums were paid annually during the Zurich Fair. Company directors were paid $1 per meeting and a free meal.”

extracted from “Hay Township Highlights: 150 years of Diversified Progress, 1846 – 1996”, published by the Hay Township Book Committee under the auspices of Hay Township Council, Alice Gibb ed.; pgs. 109-110 ISBN : 0-919939-43-0