MADISON, Wis.-It is no small measure of how the country has changed that it would be hard to imagine today an American president coming to Madison, Wis. to dedicate the opening of a new CUNA headquarters and laying the cornerstone. But that is precisely what happened on May 14, 1950, and it led to the famous photo of a beaming President Truman with silver trowel. An identical trowel was also made for the Prime Minister St. Laurent of Canada, who declined to attend.
"This building is more than an office for CUNA and its affiliates," said Thomas W. Doig, managing director. "It's in fact a little United Nations - a house where a practical method has been found of bringing together peoples of many countries with the common objective of solving their financial problems."
A grand motorcade proceeded to Filene House to lay the cornerstone that included the presidential party, along with a car for each state league. Once the cornerstone ceremonies were completed, the motorcade proceeded to the University of Wisconsin Fieldhouse. That day, like the dedication of most new offices, was filled with optimism and promises of a bright future for credit unions. Marion Gregory, treasurer of Arrow S Credit Union East St. Louis, who handed the silver trowel to President Truman, wrote about the day in the Credit Union Bridge:
"Some years ago, Mr. (Ed) Filene said we needed 100,000 credit unions and we have every reason to believe that he was correct in his estimate. We now have a little more than 10,000 credit unions, and we are making a sincere effort to organize 1,000 each year. Suppose we do accomplish this large task of creating 1,000 credit unions a year. It will take us 90 years to do the job."
Gregory ended his piece with a call to arms to support the "POP" program, a 1950 fundraiser to further the credit union idea in the U.S. and Canada. Its first two years of fundraising were successful. As to establishing 100,000 credit unions in 90 years, Gregory wrote, "We won't need ninety years to establish credit union Number 100,000. We might even surprise ourselves and do it in ten years."
The number of credit unions never cam close to reaching the 100,000 that Filene and Gregory, who would later become president of CUNA, envisioned. Credit unions peaked in terms of sheer numbers in the 1970s at just over 23,000, and today the number has declined to approximately 8,000.
