Merced Mutual Insurance Company

In 1906, a group of farmers faced a common problem of obtaining fire insurance protection for their homes and property. Insurance companies, at the time, would not insure those properties due to a lack of fire fighting manpower and equipment. The farmers decided the only solution was to form their own insurance company, so they organized the Hilmar Mutual Fire Insurance Company that subsequently became the Merced County Fire Insurance Company in 1936.

The young company began with fewer than 100 policies and offered protection only for fire and lightning. Mr. Aaron A. Anderson, one of the company's founders, covered the territory serving the policyholders from a horse and buggy and overseeing the organization from a roll-top desk in his residence. In 1922, an office was built in the community of Hilmar where Mr. Anderson served the company until his death in 1956.

In 1960, the company moved its operation to a modern building located in Atwater where, today, it continues to service its policyholders from the same facility. In 1982, Merced County Fire became a general writing mutual insurer and officially changed its name to Merced Mutual Insurance Company.