ROWAN COUNTY, N.C.—North Carolina officials have unveiled a highway historical marker honoring the 1918 founding of the Piedmont Credit Union, recognized as the nation’s first credit union established by and for Black Americans.
Founded in April 1918 by local farmer Thomas B. Patterson and a group of 22 neighbors, the institution provided Black farmers access to fair credit during the Jim Crow era. The credit union offered loans at 6% interest, compared with rates as high as 60% charged by some lenders operating under the crop-lien system, according to QCityMetro.
The marker stands at the intersection of Mount Moriah Church Road and Flat Rock Road near the site where the credit union was established. Piedmont Credit Union merged into Members Credit Union in 2025.
Patterson and the original members launched the institution with $126 in capital, the report stated. By the end of 1919, membership had grown from 23 to 82, with total resources reaching $1,347.83. Within two years, the credit union’s success helped spur the creation of 13 additional Black credit unions across North Carolina, QCityMetro stated.
‘Most Powerful’
“The story of Piedmont Credit Union is the story of the credit union movement at its most powerful – ordinary people coming together to create economic opportunity where none existed,” Dan Schline, CEO of the Carolinas Credit Union League, said in a statement. “Thomas Patterson and his fellow founders built a lifeline for families who had been deliberately shut out of the system.”
According to QCityMetro, the North Carolina Highway Historical Marker Committee unanimously approved the designation, citing the institution’s statewide significance. Leslie Leonard, administrator of the state’s Highway Historical Marker Program, described the credit union as a “community-driven effort to secure economic stability despite systemic barriers to Black financial mobility,” the report said.
Elected officials also highlighted the credit union’s role in protecting Black land ownership. State Rep. Grant Campbellsaid the institution “allowed hard working farmers to protect their land ownership and formed a shield against predatory lenders.”
“The Piedmont Credit Union stepped up over a century ago to give access to fair loan terms to African American farmers who often faced discrimination or rejection based simply on the color of their skin,” Campbell said.
Fitting Tribute
Sen. Thom Tillis called the dedication a “fitting tribute” to the founders’ vision, while state Sen. Carl Ford said the marker reflects a legacy “rooted in service, trust, and the belief that when people come together, they can build something lasting,” QCityMetro reported.
In 1920, Patterson reflected on the cooperative’s impact, writing: “A thrifty, hard-working, intelligent farmer is an asset to any community, [and] the credit union aids in making him all of these. After all, it is not what a man makes that gives him standing in the community; it is what he saves that counts.”
