America's Credit Union Museum is located in

Manchester, New Hampshire Manchester is a city in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is the most populous city in New Hampshire. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 115,644. Manchester is, along with Nashua, one of two seats of New Hamp ...

, on the site of the first

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including depo ...

founded in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. The museum is housed at the original location for St. Mary's Cooperative Credit Association, renamed in 1925 to La Caisse Populaire Ste.-Marie, or "Bank of the People", St. Mary's. In 1996, the building was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

as the Building at 418–420 Notre Dame Ave. What is now the museum was formerly a three-story, three-family dwelling belonging to

Joseph Boivin Attorney Joseph Boivin (September 21, 1866 - July 6, 1930) was a co-founder and first president of the first credit union established in the United States, St. Marie's Cooperative Credit Association. The son of Stanislas and Marie (Doucet) Boivin, J ...

, the manager of the St. Mary's Cooperative Credit Association. Boivin started the credit union with the help of

Monsignor Pierre Hevey Pierre Hevey (October 21, 1831 – March 21, 1910) was a Canadian-born American priest, and second pastor of Ste. Marie Church in Manchester, New Hampshire, in the early 20th century. He played a key role in the establishment of the first credit ...

and Alphonse Desjardins. The building was donated to the museum by Mr. & Mrs. Armand Lemire. To create the museum, the first two floors were converted into exhibit space about credit union history in the United States. The first floor pays tribute to the founding era of the credit union from 1908 to 1933. The second floor has historical artifacts beginning from 1934, featuring the Estes Park conference that created the

Credit Union National Association The Credit Union National Association, commonly known as CUNA (pronounced "Cue-Nuh"), is a national trade association for both state- and federally chartered credit unions located in the United States. CUNA provides member credit unions with tr ...

, and the 1934

Federal Credit Union Act The Federal Credit Union Act is an Act of Congress enacted in 1934. The purpose of the law was to make credit available and promote thrift through a national system of nonprofit, cooperative credit unions. This Act established the federal cred ...

which enabled credit unions to be established in all states in the nation. The third floor contains an 85-person capacity meeting space with LCD projectors.

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* {{NRHP in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Credit unions of the United States Credit unions based in New Hampshire Museums in Manchester, New Hampshire Numismatic museums in the United States History museums in New Hampshire Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Manchester, New Hampshire

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