Skelton-Morris celebrates 110 years of coverage in Hart County

As one of Hart County’s oldest businesses, Skelton-Morris Associates has been helping people insure their assets for more than 110 years.

The business began in 1912 when A.C “Gus” Skelton began writing insurance policies in Hartwell, calling his firm A.C. Skelton Insurance Agency.

That first year’s premium totaled $400.

“They mainly just did life insurance and personal insurance back then,” current partner Jennifer Patterson said.

Skelton-Morris Associates was formed from the merger of A.C. Skelton and Frank D. Morris Agencies in 1982.

Patterson said one of the biggest changes she has seen in recent years is the number of insurance companies on the market.

“We’re an independent insurance agency which means we contract with different companies. We don’t just represent one company,” Patterson said.

More companies means increased competition to help keep prices low for the buyer.

Patterson said automation is another big change over the years. Moving policies from paper to electronic saves the agency a lot of time. Patterson said they are able to quickly quote and issue policies.

“There’s a lot of new automation involved and we’ve been able to keep up with that,” Patterson said.

The COVID shutdowns affected a lot of business, but Skelton-Morris worked hard to look out for their customers during that time.

“A lot of people did face a lot of change in their business and we tried to be proactive and work with them and let them know of anything we’ve heard or anything new coming along that might affect their circumstances,” Patterson said.

But Patterson said COVID was an opportunity for their company to become better.

“I think it impacted everyone some. In some ways it made us be better as far as ways to work remotely and to upgrade some of the systems we’ve had so that we can offer a little quicker service,” Patterson said.

Patterson attributes the company’s long-term success to the great employees the company has had and thanked them for their great service.

“We’ve had a lot of employees stay here 30, 40, 50 years. They’ve been really involved in the community,” Patterson said. “They have been really good, loyal employees and cared a lot about our customers. It really made the agency what it is and the reason we are still here 110 years later.”