Three and a half years ago, Bob Markowitz walked into the office of the company with the most 'legacy' of any carrier in the country-he became vice president of systems for The Philadelphia Contributionship for the Insurance of Houses from Loss by Fire, the oldest insurance company in the U.S.

Ben Franklin, along with other prominent Philadelphians, started the company in 1752, almost 250 years ago. It was a mutual insurance company, owned by the policyholders. There was strict underwriting including a required inspection of every house the company planned to insure. It originally wrote seven-year policies, and started writing 'perpetual' policies in 1810. (With a perpetual policy, a deposit is paid up front, and the building is insured for as long as the policy is in force. If it's ever cancelled, by either the carrier or policyholder, the deposited premium is returned. Claims are paid out of the investment earnings of the initial premium.) Some of the original policies are still in force today.

The original mutual company also still exists, and handles both existing and new perpetual policies. It also acts as a holding company for two 'downstream' stock subsidiaries, The Philadelphia Contributionship Insurance Company (PCIC) and Germantown Insurance Company; the latter is a small company that they acquired a few years back. Operating under the combined name of The Contributionship Companies (which also includes Franklin Agency and Vector Security) but writing on their individual paper, it writes $40 million of homeowners, personal (dwelling) fire, and personal umbrella business in Pennsylvania and New Jersey.