Northern Chautauqua Fed Credit Union

In 1900, the credit union concept crossed the Atlantic to Levis, Quebec, where Alphonse Desjardins organized La Caisse Populaire de Levis. A court reporter, Desjardins became aware of the outrageous interest being charged by loan sharks and organized the credit union to provide relief to the working class.

In 1909, Desjardins helped a group of Franco-American Catholics in Manchester, New Hampshire organize St. Mary's Cooperative Credit Association: the first credit union in the United States. The Massachusetts law served as a basis for state credit union laws and the Federal Credit Union Act. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Credit Union Act in 1934, forming a national system to charter and supervise federal credit unions.