[1][2] In 1996 it spun off Allmerica Financial Corporation as a property and casualty insurance and financial services holding company, which then bought out the original firm, and grew to become one of the 500 largest publicly traded companies of the United States.

[2] Though remaining a relatively small company over the next 125 years, Hanover's common stock price multiplied between 1971 and 1983 by over 23 times from its low point in the decade to its eventual peak.

[2] The rapid growth of the company continued into the mid-1980s, and in 1984 it split again, two-for-one, and by 1985 nearly doubled in price once more, trading then at a high price/earnings ratio of 61.

[2] In 1987, the company split its stock two-for-one again, and was yet again on its way to another double in price, even as its PE ratio dropped back down to a bargain five times earnings.

It moved from the NASDAQ to the New York Stock Exchange, where it traded publicly under the new symbol, APY.

[2] In summer 1995 the stock price climbed above its 1993 peak high, as the economy came out of its soft landing, and PE ratios began their historic late 1990s ascent.

It held a diversified group of insurance and financial services companies with total assets of $19 billion.

[2] On October 11, 1995, Allmerica Financial Corporation began to trade on the NYSE, under the new symbol AFC.