America’s Credit Union Museum (Saint Mary’s Bank)

Introduction

Text-to-speech Audio

America’s Credit Union Museum is located at 418-420 Notre Dame Avenue. It inhabits the same building as the first credit union founded in the United States. The credit union was opened in 1908 in attorney Joseph Boivin’s home until 1913. Mr. and Mrs. Armand Lemire donated the building to create a museum where the first two floors became exhibit space. America’s Credit Union Museum and CUNA Research Center Facebook page states that “ultimately, America's Credit Union Museum is a cooperative resource that celebrates the credit union movement past, present, and future. It embraces and strives to demonstrate cooperation, caring, and imagination, the characteristics that have made credit unions such a vitally important part of American life today.”

Images

Backstory and Context

Text-to-speech Audio

Joseph Boivin started the first credit union on November 24, 1908, and became its first president. Monsignor Pierre Hevey, a local pastor, and Alphonse Desjardins, a Candian credit union pioneer were his partners who hoped to improve French-speaking mill workers’ economic stability. At first, the bank was only open in the evenings and holidays but it outgrew those hours, becoming one of “the state’s most stable financial institutions”. The original name was Saint Mary’s Cooperative Credit Association, it was renamed La Caisse Populaire Ste. Marie, or “Bank of the People, St. Mary’s" in 1925.

As an attorney, Boivin counseled French-Canadian residents of Manchester. He volunteered his evenings to help those who needed sound financial planning and saving information. The museum now occupies the space where he took these meetings and their website says that they offer “a one-of-a-kind interactive experience that brings to life a vision as relevant today as it was 100 years ago. The Museum is more than a collection of artifacts and documents. It's the soul of an unwavering national movement of people helping people. America's Credit Union Museum honors our shared history, documents today's achievements, helps credit unions prepare for tomorrow's challenges, and inspires our industry's collective future.” Today, Saint Mary's Bank is a few streets away, on McGregor Street while the museum continues to reside in the original three-story, three-family Classical Revival house.

Sources

America's Credit Union Museum, New Hampshire, This Belongs in a Museum. Accessed April 28th 2021. https://thisbelongsinamuseum.com/americas-credit-union-museum-new-hampshire/.

Our Story, Saint Mary's Bank. Accessed April 28th 2021. https://www.stmarysbank.com/nav/about-us/history/our-story#:~:text=America%27s%20Credit%20Union%20Museum%20is,as%20the%20first%20credit%20union.

Experience the Power of America's Credit Union Museum, America's Credit Union Museum. Accessed April 28th 2021. https://www.acumuseum.org/.

About, America's Credit Union Museum and CUNA Research Center. Accessed April 28th 2021. https://www.facebook.com/AmericasCUMuseum/.

Image Sources(Click to expand)

https://www.stmarysbank.com/nav/about-us/history/our-story#:~:text=America%27s%20Credit%20Union%20Museum%20is,as%20the%20first%20credit%20union

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s_Credit_Union_Museum

https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=65149

Additional Information