Allen Agency dates back to the year 1866 when it was organized by Wilder W. Perry.
George E. Allen purchased the business in 1902 and conducted insurance and real estate business at 11 Main Street in Camden until his son Hervey C. Allen, Jr., sold the business to J. Hugh Montgomery on July 1, 1935. The business known as the Allen Insurance Agency at that time was operated by J. Hugh Montgomery until his death in November 1953.
In January 1954, David H. Montgomery became the President and Treasurer of the Allen Insurance Agency. The corporate name was changed in June 1971, from Allen Insurance Agency to Allen Agency.
In 1988, David H. Montgomery sold some of his stock in the agency to the Allen Agency Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP), which had just been formed. As of the first part of 1994, the Allen Agency ESOP had distributed all its stock to the employees, so that they owned just over 30% of the corporation.
In early 2001, the Allen Financial Group joined Commonwealth Financial Network in order to provide a truly independent and comprehensive approach to financial planning. Our financial services division believes that in order to provide world class service and guidance, an investment professional should be free from the influences present at many traditional Wall Street companies.
In late 2009, the company adopted the d/b/a “Allen Insurance and Financial,” bringing together Allen Agency and Allen Financial Group into a single name and a single logo, both describing the complete range of services we offer.
In November 2010, Allen Insurance and Financial purchased L.S. Robinson Co. insurance, a small independent agency on Main Street in Southwest Harbor. We gave L.S. Robinson a new logo, which ties our branding together and indicates the office is a division of Allen Insurance and Financial, but for the immediate future, the company’s Southwest Harbor office will continue to operate under the d/b/a name L.S. Robinson.
The growth of our company over the years would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of all of our employees. Each employee has a responsibility to provide insurance protection for our clients in a thoughtful, friendly, professional way, as well as to carry out the responsibility to our insurance companies by providing them with a book of profitable insurance business.
Our philosophy is that the client comes first and we use our expertise, creative problem solving and professionalism to provide our clients with the finest balance of quality and value in their insurance and financial planning program. In addition, the companies we represent are critical to the service we provide our clients and we strive to present these partners with complete and accurate information. This has been our philosophy over the years and it has served us well.
In May 2012, Allen Insurance and Financial received a Maine Governor’s Award for Business Excellence. In October 2012, the company was named a Best Place to Work in Maine, an honor earned annually since.
Also in 2012, Michael Pierce was named company president and Michael Dufour was named executive vice president.
In April 2013, Allen Insurance and Financial opened a new office at 156 High St. in Belfast, Maine. Two years later, we relocated to a larger space at 94 High St.
In 2014, we marked the 25th anniversary of our company’s Employee Stock Ownership Plan.
2016 was a year of milestones for us.
In 2016, we:
- Marked our 150th year in business.
- Began an expansion of our financial services division to the Waterville area.
- Were named Service Provider of the Year by the Maine International Trade Center.
- Named Dan Bookham a vice president of the company.
- Began the conversion to 100 percent employee-owned (from 33 percent).
On Jan. 1, 2017, we became officially 100 percent employee-owned.
In December 2021, we acquired GHM Insurance Agency of Waterville.
In August 2023, we brought our Southwest Harbor office (L.S. Robinson Co.) and our Waterville office (GHM Agency) under the Allen brand.
Updated 8/18/2023