In 1936, a handful of Tri-State Telephone and Telegraph Company employees had the foresight to realize that by combining resources, they could cooperatively achieve each other's financial goals. St. Paul Telco Credit Union was officially born on October 5, 1936.

The founding members were: A. H. Noreen, H. M. Mead, C. O. Hawkins, A. Bacchus, Arthur W. Steinbeck, E. C. Gladman, W. B. Wheelock, and R. H. Hoffman. These men were full-time telephone company employees who dedicated their "spare" time to making the credit union grow. Each charter member subscribed to one share with a par value of $5.

Over the years, our charter was expanded to include the employees of several other businesses in our immediate geographic area.

In 1995, the members of St. Paul Telco Credit Union voted to amend our original charter, changing the name to Cities Credit Union. Your board of directors recommended this change so that our name would encompass all the Select Employee Groups (SEGs) in our field of membership.

In 1996, Cities Credit Union opened a branch office in Vadnais Heights with a drive-up facility, giving members who live and work outside the downtown area convenient access to credit union services.

In 2003, Cities Credit Union was awarded a Community Charter by the Minnesota Department of Commerce. The bylaw amendment, accepted  February 4, 2003, allowed a fieldof membership expansion to the cities of Gem Lake, White Bear Lake, White Bear Township and Vadnais Heights. Now any person wholives, works, worships or attends school in those communities can become a member of Cities Credit Union.