About

MCDOWELL CORNERSTONE CREDIT UNION is a not for profit organization whose ownership is made up from the members of the Credit Union.

Started in 1909, Marion Manufacturing Company was for many years the oldest and largest industrial plant operating in McDowell County. Until the early 1970’s when the Baxter plant was built in North Cove, Marion Manufacturing Co. was the largest industrial plant and largest employer in the county. In the early days of the company, a mill village was built around the plant and it provided all utilities to the village houses. The old, main central building for Marion Manufacturing was gradually demolished in late 2010 and throughout much of 2011. The newer sections and the tall smokestack that spells out the name of the plant still stand to this day. When you talk to people that worked at the plant, they’ll tell you it was a tightknit group of people where everyone knew each other, and it felt like a big family.

Many credit unions are formed through a specific employer, and that’s the case with McDowell Cornerstone Credit Union, originally Marion Manufacturing Credit Union. We were formed in 1967 by the management of Marion Manufacturing Company. Folks like Sparkie Parker, the company HR Manager, and Jim Baldwin, the company Controller were instrumental in forming the Credit Union. The other original Board of Directors were J.L. Ward, David Holland, Grady Moody, J.D. Harris, and Denzil Adams. For the first 20 years Credit Union membership was limited to company employees and their families. Many employees had accounts and opened savings accounts for each of their children. Many former employees speak about how they had payroll deductions to fund their children’s account, and to this day those accounts have helped pay for college, their first car, or even a down payment on their home. 

Over the years as some of our Members changed jobs within the county these other companies did not have a credit union. These employees who had moved promoted the benefits of the credit union. In order to allow those Members that left the company, and to help expand our membership throughout the community, the credit union Board applied to our State regulators to amend our charter and we became a community-chartered Credit Union. Renamed McDowell Cornerstone Credit Union, we now serve anyone that lives, works, worships, or studies in McDowell county.