A long-standing and community-driven insurance agency held a ribbon cutting celebration with the Clinton County Chamber of Commerce on Thursday morning to showcase its new business front and reintroduce itself to the community at 1202 S. Jackson St. in Frankfort.
The community was welcomed into the Purcifull Agency to join owner Carl Stage and A.E. Purcifull, previous owner and family namesake, alongside members of the Frankfort and Kokomo branches to explore the newly reopened section of the business and explore its history. As Shan Sheridan, Chamber Executive Director, and Frankfort Mayor Judy Sheets gave their gratitude for the Purcifull Agency’s continued support of the Frankfort community, Purcifull delved into the history of the company in Frankfort.
Purcifull has retired and sold the business to Stage, who wanted to continue the agency’s operations. Purcifull stated that he was born into the insurance business as his grandfather launched the agency in 1910 before his father took over, eventually leading to Purcifull continuing the operations within the family until 2016.
“Back when my grandfather was in the business and my father, back then they didn’t have farm-owner policies that were packages,” Purcifull said. “They’d buy fire insurance maybe from one place to protect their buildings, then they’d buy liability insurance from some place else. But, we had a little farm company in Mulberry, Indiana, called Farmers Mutual Insurance, and like my grandfather and father, they were farmers, and they sold insurance in the winter months after their crops were down.”
Purcifull expressed that working with local farmers provided him with the drive needed to cement the Purcifull Agency as a well-known entity within the city, and his passion for family history and keeping the family name alive helped further his motivation until he reached the time for his retirement.
“My first love was working farm business, and I enjoyed working with those people, and that was our heritage,” Purcifull said. “I think that my ancestor that moved into area was deeded his first piece of land over by Kirklin for building a 6-mile stretch of 421, and I have not done the research on our family farm, but I think it’s probably been in the family over 200 years.”
During the Purcifull Agency’s time in Clinton County, Purcifull combined several small farm agencies and farm houses around the county into a central office in Frankfort and Kokomo. Once Purcifull purchased the agency from his father, he began buying out smaller insurance agencies throughout Clinton County from owners nearing retirement. At one moment, Purcifull’s agency represented 12 to 14 companies.
“I spent 43 years building a small agency to what became a small agency,” Purcifull said. “Had I not done that, I would not have survived because the insurance companies required a certain amount of volume to even keep you on the books.”
Stage purchased the agency in 2016 after dabbling in the insurance industry for nearly 50 years. Stage cemented his career as a coach and a teacher in the area, selling insurance during the summer, and once he heard Purcifull was looking toward retirement, he jumped at the opportunity to continue the wide range of opportunities the agency provides Clinton County and Howard County.
“We can insure anything, but basically we write farm, home, auto, some life insurance, business insurance, we’ve got Boys and Girls Club insured, Michigantown, Humane Society,” Stage said. “We’re really entrenched in the community here.”
The ribbon cutting celebration was a means for the agency to showcase its new location toward the side of the building that previously housed the agency. Stage commented that the relocation to the side of the building allowed for easier access for clients during the winter months as the stairs are located indoors.
“We moved the office just in the last year from up front to the side,” Stage said. “Some of that was that we didn’t need as much room as we had over there, but the other part was we were always a little concerned about the outside steps in the winter. Where here, they come in the door and they’re inside.”
For more information, visit the Purcifull Agency at 1202 S. Jackson St. in Frankfort or call 765-654-8501.