Gen Fed Federal Credit Union History

Our History
Gen Fed FCU merges with General Tires CU
GenFed's Growth Pattern

Our History

Homer Carroll, "Father of GenFed Federal Credit Union"

In 1937, Homer Carroll, a General Tire Employee, studied credit unions and gathered information and people to start the credit union for General Tire & Rubber Company.

Early Credit Union Members

In 1938 the credit union opened for business on the second floor of a converted house at 1673 Englewood Avenue, Akron, Ohio.

Bill Prather was also instrumental in the beginning of the credit union. He walked through the Akron General Tire factory collecting nickels, dimes and quarters to be deposited to member share accounts. This was the way many members learned to save.

In the credit union’s early years, the location was moved a number of times. The credit union moved to another location on Englewood Avenue, then to the General Tire property, then to a rental building at 1792 E. Market Street, Akron, Ohio.

The Credit Union’s teller window on General Tire Property, 1947

In 1970 the Board of Directors approved plans for a new building, which is the current Akron office building. It is named the Carroll-Prather Building in honor of Homer and Bill.

Bidinger, Prather and General Tire President M.G. O’Neil
survey the Akron building site

Bill Prather and Jack Young at the building’s opening

Over the next 27 years the credit union slowly added eleven branches in cities including, but not limited to, locations where General Tire had plants.

Gen Fed FCU merges with General Tires CU

The Mt. Vernon General Tire Employees Credit Union was chartered in 1974. It started in a supply closet at the General Tire factory. One employee was hired soon after the Board of Directors chartered the credit union and that employee was the only one handling member service, bookkeeping, financial reports, and more necessary for the daily operations of a credit union until April 1983. The office included a desk and two chairs, and members were often seen lined up down the hallway waiting to be served. The Credit Union offered $500 signature loans and basic savings. It opened with no members and no assets.

Mt. Vernon (General Tire Employees CU) merged with GenFed in the Spring of 1982 with an asset size of $250,000. After some time, the plant provided an office for the Credit Union at the General Tire headquarters. After moving to a new location, the single employee, as the Branch Manager, continued to build the credit union, now with two additional part time employees. The staff all took a personal interest in members and took pride in providing outstanding service with little resources.

Then in 1989 a new office was built by GenFed on 42nd Street. It grew to serve over 60 employers in the Mt. Vernon and surrounding Southern Illinois communities, including Centralia, due to the enthusiasm and effort of the manager and growing staff, a strong, united, and determined team. The Mt. Vernon branch soon began to emerge as GenFed’s ‘star’ branch with quick lending growth that began to positively impact GenFed’s financials. This happened during a time when income was sagging due to changes in demand in the Akron area and the eventual closing of the Akron General Tire plant.

The old Mt. Vernon branch

The Mt. Vernon branch has consistently been the highest income producing branch over the past several years and moved to a beautiful new branch location in 2006.

The outside of the current Mt Vernon branch The new Mt Vernon branch lobby.

Between 1982 and 1997, the Mt. Vernon branch grew from under $1 million in assets to approximately $20 million and became GenFed’s most profitable branch. New SEG’s in nearby Centralia, IL were developed, and eventually GenFed opened a branch in Centralia. Leading up to 1998, GenFed's overall asset growth and income had started to become stagnant or decline. Although the credit union had grown to $94 million in assets during the 61 years between 1937 and 1998, mergers and acquisitions helped the growth toward the end of this period. In 2008, we take pride in the outstanding asset growth from $94 million to $184 million. During the 10 year period, assets grew by $90 million without the assistance of mergers and acquisitions! Income has also stabilized and Capital (GenFed’s cushion for emergencies) has grown.

GenFed built a strong and capable team, including a management team all working together with an equally strong corporate and branch team to insure continued growth and success for the good of GenFed members. The Board Chair’s leadership and the outstanding relationship between Board and Management has also contributed to our success.

GenFed's Growth Pattern

DATE	ASSETS	MEMBERS	SHARES	LOANS	RESERVES & UNDIVIDED EARNINGS
1/ 31/38	220	95	236	117	24
12/31/48	63,175	804	53,942	47,370	1,215
12/31/58	232,974	1,305	176,173	221,483	11,239
12/31/68	1,622,062	2,791	1,513,792	1,284,664	103,015
12/31/78	8,445,741	5,886	7,323,762	6,904,506	665,709
12/31/80	10,343,614	6,240	9,155,574	7,359,090	928,988
12/31/81	11,154,642	6,336	8,416,694	8,108,558	1,109,319
12/31/83	16,787,287	7,596	15,006,438	6,151,299	1,506,980
12/31/85	25,736,813	7,486	23,171,885	9,453,043	2,161,170
12/31/87	35,291,735	9,103	32,171,885	11,985,521	2,803,049
12/31/89	39,795,159	12,038	36,242,324	20,929,484	3,152,003
12/31/91	42,358,162	12,248	37,691,288	22,881,522	4,312,319
12/31/92	47,654,887	13,533	42,057,469	24,115,423	5,241,207
12/31/93	55,742,806	16,395	48,824,368	30,659,553	6,565,874
12/31/94	61,913,373	17,581	54,179,045	38,236,833	7,340,642
12/31/95	74,518,608	20,871	65,771,045	49,563,618	8,294,485
12/31/96	90,502,930	25,588	80,602,641	60,252,433	9,437,491
12/31/97	94,349,502	25,895	83,932,522	66,367,583	10,179,394
12/31/98	99,939,304	24,453	89,199,353	72,922,541	10,253,705
12/31/99	105,470,494	22,871	94,117,561	77,429,502	10,883,248
12/31/00	112,342,205	21,740	100,141,284	77,981,232	11,834,277
12/31/01	125,268,879	21,810	111,842,211	85,360,625	12,898,662
12/31/02	134,808,143	21,207	120,007,832	86,518,303	14,313,284
12/31/03	144,644,096	20,862	128,256,891	88,336,853	15,890,615
12/31/04	156,133,103	19,544	137,739,422	88,846,432	17,930,033
12/31/05	168,291,123	19,055	148,040,730	97,708,494	19,535,869
12/31/06	184,113,971	18,738	162,424,539	103,235,634	20,949,213
12/31/07	184,872,112	18,072	160,956,477	99,922,641	22,285,953
12/31/08	172,599,456	17,790	148,750,932	102,797,458	22,598,962