Michigan First History
View an interactive history of Michigan First.
 1
The first organizational meeting of the credit union was held on April 15, 1926, to discuss a set of bylaws. Nine teachers from a Sociology class at Detroit Teachers College subscribed $95 and officially formed the organization known as Detroit Teachers Credit Union (DTCU). The office of E.W. McFarland at the Teachers College served as the business office and membership was limited to persons employed by the Detroit Board of Education. On May 5, J.C. Howell was named first Treasurer/Manager and Mary Holland was elected first President. Business grew quickly and on May 6, the office was moved to J.C. Howell’s family dining room. Mrs. Howell kept a white cloth on the table which was rolled back in the evenings when J.C. spread out the membership cards and conducted business. Members began coming to the house to discuss loans. There were no office hours; whenever members showed up, business was conducted.
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 1931-1934
The credit union needed more office space. The Howells moved to 1735 Calvert Avenue, a two-family flat on April 1. J.C. Howell planned a stairway down into the deep basement, and partitioned off two small offices for credit union business.
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 1935-1939
As DTCU expanded, additional office space was again needed. Four teller windows were created and opened for business in the Calvert basement on September 23, 1935. On February 24, 1936, the credit union began to offer first mortgages at a rate of 6%. DTCU continued to grow, and by the following year, reached $1 million in assets.
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