Photo by Mike Lamb Mark Nelson stands in front of the Norwegian Mutual Insurance Company sign in the main lobby of the office in Cottonwood.

In 2008, Mark Nelson was working at US Bank leasing in Marshall when he was told of the manager position opening at Norwegian Mutual Insurance Company in Cottonwood.

“I really didn’t know anything about insurance at the time. It intrigued me. I had some interest. I applied, had some interviews and they hired me,” Nelson said.

And the rest is history as Nelson has been directing the main office in Cottonwood and works with agents in 18 southwest Minnesota counties ever since. And there is a lot of history when it comes to Norwegian Mutual. The company was formed in 1877, according to its website.

“In 1877 a group of mostly Norwegian farmers banded together for the purpose of pooling their resources to protect their property from the perils of fire,” the company states on its website. “Two years later, February 22, 1879, this society was incorporated as the Norwegian Mutual Fire Insurance Company under the insurance laws of the State of Minnesota. Today, Norwegian Mutual Insurance Company specializes in property insurance for farms and rural homeowners.”

When Nelson first started at Norwegian Mutual, the office was located inside the North Star Mutual Insurance Company building. With the building filling up by North Star, Norwegian Mutual decided to build its own building in 2012 located in downtown Cottonwood, according to Nelson.

He likes the idea of working for a smaller insurance.

“I think there is more flexibility,” Nelson said.

There are only six people in the Cottonwood office, but all of them are longtime employees.

“We have two ladies who have been here 30 years. I have been here since 2008. We have a gentleman who has been here close to 10 years,” he said. “We have long-term employees. I think that says something for what our board of directors do as far as making sure the employees are satisfied coming to work.”

The company also thrives to help the communities in the counties it serves.

“We are more involved in the monetary side,” Nelson said. “We like to support local. Being we are a small local insurance carrier, a lot like other local businesses. If we support the local activities where basically people will consider shopping local when it comes to their insurance. No different if you are looking to buy a car. If you want to buy local, you go to one of the local car dealers, or maybe it’s going downtown and buy from one of the clothing stores verses going to Sioux Falls or wherever it might be.”

“We are trying to support those activities — whether at the youth level, sometimes it might be medical. And hopefully that will resonate with people considering us for their insurance needs.”

The various causes supported by Norwegian Mutual include Lakeview High School, youth baseball and 4-H.

“We try to support our local fire department, ambulance services just because a lot of our larger claims are going to be the result of a fire. Obviously that requires the fire department to go out there. We do try to support them the best we can,” Nelson said.

He said Norwegian Mutual recently helped the Canby Fire Department with a piece of needed equipment. And recently donated some money to the Pipestone Fire Department.

“We try to support the best way we can,” Nelson said.