DUANE
Duane's take
The marker tells it this way, and I'm just passing it along. Now, every empire has to start somewhere, and this one started with a merchant and a lawyer who didn't see eye to eye — at least not right away. The year was 1894.
A Bartlett, Texas, merchant by the name of L. A. Niebuhr had himself an idea.
He wanted to build a farm mutual aid association — something that would stand between hardworking farmers and the kind of losses that could wipe a family out overnight. Fire. Lightning.
Storms. The things you can't argue with and can't outrun. So Niebuhr took his plan to a Waco attorney named E.
W. Hander. And Hander?
He dismissed it. Just like that. Didn't want any part of it.
But Niebuhr wasn't the type to fold easy. He let the idea sit. Let it age a little.
And two years later, in 1896, Hander came around. He agreed to draw up a constitution for the association. On August 31st, 1896, they gathered in a schoolhouse in Perry, Texas.
Thirty-four members showed up that day to organize the Germania Mutual Aid Association. Otto Rau, a businessman, was chosen president. Hander — the very man who'd once dismissed the whole notion — became vice president.
And Niebuhr, the man who never let go of the dream, took the role of secretary. Things moved fast after that. By early 1897, the association had grown to 116 members and seven local chapters.
The seed had taken root. In 1898, Niebuhr moved to Brenham and established the association's office in a building on his own property. That became the headquarters from which something remarkable would grow.
By 1926, the association had expanded to 160 local chapters, insuring nine thousand, three hundred and forty-nine members. The following year, 1927, they erected a new office building — a sign that this thing wasn't going anywhere but up. Over the decades, they kept adding coverage.
Hail hazards in 1934. Gas explosions in 1938. Theft in 1867 — well, the marker says 1867, and we'll let that stand as written.
Vandalism in 1970. Stock companies were organized in 1979 and again in 1983 to write liability and life insurance. The name changed with the times too.
Germania Farm Mutual Aid Association in 1960. Germania Farm Mutual Insurance Association in 1982. And by the end of 1994, that little idea a merchant once carried into a lawyer's office — the one that got dismissed without a second thought — had grown into an association with a hundred and forty-four thousand, nine hundred and eighteen members.
Niebuhr believed in it when nobody else did. Turned out, he wasn't wrong.
What the marker says
In 1894 Bartlett, Texas, merchant L. A. Niebuhr presented Waco attorney E. W. Hander with a plan to establish a farm mutual aid association to provide farmers insurance against losses due to fire, lightning, and storms. Hander initially dismissed Niebuhr's plan but in 1896 he agreed to draw up a constitution for the association. The organization of the Germania Mutual Aid Association took place in a schoolhouse in Perry, Texas, on August 31, 1896, with 34 members. Businessman Otto Rau was chosen president; Hander, vice president; and Niebuhr, secretary. By early 1897 the association consisted of 116 members and seven local chapters. Niebuhr moved to Brenham and established the association's office in a building on his property in 1898. The association, which had grown to 160 local chapters insuring 9,349 members by 1926, erected a new office building in 1927. Insurance coverage for hail hazards was added in 1934, gas explosions in 1938, theft in 1867, and vandalism in 1970. Stock companies were organized in 1979 and 1983 to write liability and life insurance. The association's name was changed to Germania Farm Mutual Aid Association in 1960 and Germania Farm Mutual Insurance Association in 1982. By the end of 1994 the association's membership stood at 144,918.