Money.
Our friends over at Coastal Credit Union taught me some Durham history I didn’t know! Turns out the Bull City was home to the FIRST credit union in the South! And it goes back to tobacco farming.
Who saw the tobacco part coming?
Durham has always had a way of “make money, figure out the rest later,” and that has lead to many innovations and interesting Bull City tales. That was of life is what lead to John Sprunt Hill opening up Lowe’s Grove credit union.
Local farmers needed a safe place to keep their earnings year-round without being subject to scandalous practices such as, but not limited to, absurdly-high interest rates. Farmers get paid but once a year and that money doesn’t always line up or make it through the farmer costs of the following year. Furthermore, the demand for tobacco outpaced everything and everyone, including the existing banking practices.
Enter banker John Sprunt Hill. He had a background in finance and was married to a tobacconist’s daughter giving him keen insight into the banking needs of those in the tobacco industry. He worked with the farmers of Lowe’s Grove to create the credit union in 1915.
Each founding member put in $29, which today would be $735.
Things have a way of growing in Durham. Lowe’s Grove credit union lead the way, followed by Durham becoming home to some of the very few African-American owned credit unions. North Carolina, namely Durham, had more African-American credit unions than the rest of the US combined! Providing fair-lending rates and savings options for African-Americans during the Jim Crow Era. Durham has always lead the way in race relations by way of money.
Special thanks to our Community Partners Coast Credit Union for making this Bull City History Bit possiBULL. Durham’s always been incrediBULL – you can take that to the bank.
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