Page 7 - Frankenmuth Insurance 150 Years Anniversary Booklet

Frankly speaking, in English

Modest but steady growth continued for the

association. In 1910, the name was changed to
Frankenmuther Feuer Unterstützungs-Verein. In
1924, to accommodate the growing number of

non-German-speaking residents of the area,
the company eliminated the German-language

requirement and the organization became known in English only as
Frankenmuth Fire Aid Association. But records continued to be kept in German,
and business continued as usual. The association was not a flashy enterprise;

their business “headquarters” was in a back room of the Nuechterleins’
mortuary. Carl Nuechterlein, who helped run the mortuary, was also Secretary
(CEO) of the Fire Aid Association from 1925 to 1941, and helped organize the

Frankenmuth Mutual Auto Insurance Company in 1921 (see “A new business
hits the road” on page 9).

One day in the late 1930s, a team of examiners from the State Insurance

Department came to audit the association’s books. Carl Nuechterlein was busy
with a funeral, but let the examiners in, telling them all the association’s records
were in a box in the back room. The “box,” the examiners discovered, was a

spare wooden coffin, and the records were all neatly handwritten in German.
Carl returned and interpreted for them, and though the examiners
FUN FACT:
The company’s 1931 annual found the records to be error-free, they suggested Carl find a
report lists numerous claims for
barns lost to fire, cows struck by more suitable file cabinet. They also insisted the records be
lightning, and one $15 claim for kept in English from then on, and made it a directive for all
“damage to cheese.”
insurance companies in the state. The association’s minute book
for 1939 was the first major record in which English replaced German.

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