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St. Mary's Bank

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First United States credit union

St. Mary's Bank
FormerlyLa Caisse Populaire, Ste-Marie
Company typeCredit union (Non-profit organization)
IndustryFinancial services
Founded1908; 117 years ago (1908)
FounderMonsignor Pierre Hevey
Headquarters200 McGregor Street, Manchester, New Hampshire, United States
Number of locations13
Key peopleKen Senus, President and CEO
ProductsSavings; checking; consumer loans; mortgages; credit cards; online banking; mobile banking; business banking
Net income$16.4 million
Total assets$1.53 billion
OwnerMember-owned
Members94,044  (2024)
Number of employees282  (2024)
Websitewww.stmarysbank.com

St. Mary's Bank is an American credit union based in Manchester, New Hampshire. It was founded in 1908 and was the first credit union in the United States.

The credit union offers personal banking, business banking, savings, checking, investment, mortgages, home equity, auto loans, online banking, and debit and credit cards.

As of 2023, St. Mary's Bank has 11 branches, all in New Hampshire: five in Manchester, two in Nashua, and one each in Hudson, Londonderry, Milford and Portsmouth. The credit union also has a mortgage center in Concord.

History

In 1908, Monseigneur Pierre Hevey, pastor of the parish at Ste. Marie Church in Manchester, began organizing a new financial institution with the goal to help the city's primarily Franco-American millworkers save and borrow money. He sought assistance from Alphonse Desjardins, who had organized several credit unions in Quebec, and from attorney Joseph Boivin, who volunteered his time and home as the first branch. On November 24, 1908, the business officially opened its doors in Manchester and became the first credit union in the nation. It received a charter from the New Hampshire General Court on April 9, 1909.

The institution was originally called St. Mary's Cooperative Credit Association. In 1925, it revised its name to La Caisse Populaire Ste.-Marie, or the Bank of the People, St. Mary's. French-speaking millworkers were the primary customers of St. Mary's, including children, who often had accounts at the credit union to deposit their wages from working in the mills.

By the mid 1950s, St. Mary's was serving several thousand members and had $6 million in assets. In 1970, St. Mary's Bank built and moved into its present main office at McGregor Street in Manchester.

The building where Joseph Boivin first managed the business of the credit union became America's Credit Union Museum in 2002 and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The building serves as a historical and educational site for the credit union movement. Boivin's office is recreated to demonstrate how he accepted deposits in a room in his home. An expansion, funded by $3.3 million in donations from credit unions around the United States, was announced in 2018. The expansion hosts the Ensweiler Research Library and CUNA Research Center.

Assets

2024 assets 2019 assets 2017 assets 2015 assets 2014 assets 2008 assets
$1.53 billion $1.045 billion $1.010 billion $890 million $814 million $713 million

Legacy

St. Mary's Bank became overlooked in the history of credit unions in the United States, with Edward Filene, who championed the Massachusetts Credit Union Act of 1909 and the establishment of several credit unions, receiving recognition as the "father of the credit union." Indeed, Filene coined the term "credit union" to draw connections to the labor movement and with credit rather than lending. This led to a 1976 lawsuit, La Caisse Populaire Ste-Marie (St. Mary's Bank) v. United States, in which St. Mary's Bank had to prove that it was a credit union, as it does not use the term "credit union" in its name, and is governed slightly different from most of the credit unions that came after it.

Nonetheless, St. Mary's Bank likely inspired the passage of the Massachusetts Credit Union Act of 1909. Within New Hampshire, the credit union significantly changed the economic prospects of Franco-American immigrants, who previously struggled to access the banking system. St. Mary's was more willing to take smaller deposits from working immigrants, as well as to lend to immigrants. Additionally, St. Mary's offered services in French, including the local New England French spoken on Manchester's West Side. Today, St. Mary's offers services in other languages spoken by New Hampshire's immigrant population.

See also

References

  1. ^ "St. Mary's Bank History". Retrieved January 14, 2018.
  2. "Branch & ATM Locations & Hours". St. Mary's Bank. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  3. ^ "St. Mary's September 2021 Call Report". Retrieved September 27, 2021.
  4. "Ken Senus Named President and CEO". January 3, 2023. Retrieved January 23, 2023.
  5. "St. Mary's Bank Holds its 115th Annual Shareholder's Meeting". St. Mary's Bank. Retrieved April 27, 2024.
  6. "Historical Timeline | NCUA". ncua.gov. January 26, 2023. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  7. "Branch Locations"
  8. ^ "Credit Union Museum Official Opens to Visitors, CUs". Banking Wire. November 7, 2022.
  9. ^ Farber, Amy (June 27, 2014). "Historical Echoes: The United States' First Credit Union–Run Out of a Gentleman Lawyer's Front Parlor". Liberty Street Economics. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  10. ^ "La Caisse Populaire Ste-Marie (St. Mary's Bank) v. United States, 425 F. Supp. 512 (D.N.H. 1976)". Justia Law. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  11. "Credit Union History". America's Credit Union Museum. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  12. Harris, Patricia (January 24, 2013). "Past and present interweave in Franco-American Manchester". www.boston.com. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  13. "Exterior Photo of the McGregor Location". St. Mary's Bank. Retrieved January 26, 2023.
  14. "Putting a forgotten city from co-op history back on the map". Co-operative News. August 20, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  15. "CUNA Research Center and Ensweiler Library Open at ACUM". America's Credit Union Museum. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  16. "2019 assets". 117th Annual Shareholders Meeting, 2020. St. Mary's Bank.
  17. "2015 assets". 107th Annual Shareholders Meeting, 2016. St. Mary's Bank.
  18. "2014 assets". 106th Annual Shareholders Meeting, 2015. St. Mary's Bank.
  19. "St. Mary's Bank names Ronald Covey as President & CEO, 2008".
  20. Richard, Mark Paul (2015). ""The Humble Parish Bank": The Cultural Origins of the U.S. Credit Union Movement". The New England Quarterly. 88 (3): 449–482. ISSN 0028-4866.
  21. Eckrich, Joanna (June 1, 2020). "Edward Filene, Father of the American Credit Union System". CUSO Magazine ®. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  22. "Credit unions vs. banks: How we got here". American Banker. April 25, 2018. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  23. Pinsonneault, Chelcie (October 31, 2022). "A tour of Manchester's West Side: Remembering achievements and struggles of Franco-Americans - Manchester Ink Link". Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  24. ^ "New Hampshire's Immigration Story - La Survivance and the Franco Americans". New Hampshire Public Radio. May 22, 2012. Retrieved January 3, 2025.
  25. Laskow, Sarah (March 8, 2016). "New Hampshire Mill Workers Invented a New Type of French". Slate. ISSN 1091-2339. Retrieved January 3, 2025.

External links

42°59′35″N 71°28′25″W / 42.99306°N 71.47361°W / 42.99306; -71.47361

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