In this retelling of our history, we have drawn on actual minutes and the memories of Board members and long-time credit union members who have watched the tremendous growth of our financial institution over more than a fifty year span. All persons and records have pretty much agreed with one premise: the credit union movement has been alive and well here on the northcoast since the decade of the fifties.

Planting our Roots:

Even though we found some records of several Grange credit unions in Humboldt and Del Norte counties that were started as early as 1939, our actual credit union’s roots can be traced back to the Humboldt County Employees Federal Credit Union (HCEFCU) which started in 1950. According to minutes kept by Evanne Wheeler, “Dorothy Shirek-Smith was our first Charter member.” Dorothy was elected as the Board’s President and served on the Board until 1971.

In researching how Coast Central Credit Union came into being, we discovered the following timeline:

1950: Humboldt County Employees Federal Credit Union was formed.

1959: Klamath-Trinity Community Credit union was formed in Hoopa. This will become part of our credit union “tree” twenty years later.

1964: Steve Antongiovanni was appointed part-time Treasurer-Manager and took over the books.

1968: HCEFCU opened an office at 5th and O Streets, Eureka.

1971: HCEFCU paid first quarterly dividend in May.

1971: Eureka City Employees Federal Credit Union liquidated and members joined HCEFCU.

1972: HCEFCU purchased the building located at 3rd and K Street, Eureka where it operated its office and rented space to Simpson Redwood Federal Credit Union.

1973: Steve Antongiovanni was hired as full-time Treasurer-Manager of HCEFCU. He later became President/CEO and continued until he retired in 1990.

1974: HCEFCU published first monthly newsletter (“The Forerunner”).

1974: 21 credit unions co-existed within our current tri-county area. Of those, twelve merged with HCEFCU ( soon to be named Coast Federal Credit Union).

1974: HCEFCU pledged $25,000 share deposit in new Redwood Central credit union. 1974: Redwood Central held its first meeting in September.

1975: HCEFCU celebrated 25th anniversary and completed merger of Medical Employees Federal Credit Union.

1975: Opened office in St. Bernard’s high school, listed as Member Services Branch Number 3. That number later became assigned to Bayshore when it opened (1988) after our St. Bernard’s office closed.

1976: NCUA approved name change of HCEFCU to Coast Federal Credit Union.

1976: Rented five offices in Dinsmore Building (1 for Redwood Central, 1 for Simpson and 3 for Coast’s “oversized operation”).

1977: Coast Federal opened an office in Crescent City.

1978: Coast Federal opened an office in Valley West Shopping Center, Arcata.

1978: Klamath-Trinity Community Credit Union merged with Redwood Central Credit Union.

1979: Redwood Central (a state-chartered credit union) and Coast Federal (a Federally chartered credit union) merged. The merged entity became Coast Central Credit Union, a state chartered credit union, on July 18th.

1979: As a “community chartered” credit union, Coast Central’s field of membership included all of Trinity and Del Norte counties and a portion of Humboldt county.

1980: Arcata Plywood Federal Credit Union merged with Coast Central Credit Union.

1981: Opened offices on Harrison Avenue, Eureka and on Main Street, Fortuna.

1981: Trinity Alps Community Credit Union merged with Coast Central Credit Union.

1981: Opened member services branch in Weaverville.

1984: Brought checking account processing in house. Previously handled by Security Pacific.

1984: Coast Central became a California corporation on March 19, 1984.

1987: Converted to the Ultradata system as our mainframe data processor.

1987: Opened member services branch at 4th & J Street location in Eureka.

1988: Opened small member services branch in Bayshore Mall.

1988: Expanded community charter to include most of Humboldt County.

1989: Opened member services branch in Hoopa, originally operating out of a motel room. Then, three months later, opened at former Security Pacific location.

1989: Began our own network of ATM’s. Became the first financial institution to have ATMs in local Safeway and Co-op stores.

1989: Opened member services branch in Willow Creek.

1989: Remodeled and expanded Harrison Avenue member services branch.

1990: Steve Antongiovanni retired as President/CEO. Dean G. Christensen became the new President/CEO of Coast Central Credit Union.

1992: Expanded Arcata member services branch to double its original size and added an ATM.

1994: Community charter was expanded to include all of Humboldt County, allowing Coast Central to serve all the residents of the tri-county area.

1994: Added ATM in Eureka’s Costco, only to lose it in 2003.

1995: Moved to new Glenn Street location in Weaverville.

1995: Added ATMs in Bayshore Mall’s Food Court and in Willow Creek.

1997: Opened online banking service for members. We were among the first 50 credit unions in the country to offer this service to members.

1998: Opened small office in Ray’s Food Place in McKinleyville, serving members seven days a week. Office included an ATM.

1998: Added ATMs in the Eureka Co-op store and at our Weaverville member services branch.

2003: Added ATM at our Hoopa member services branch.

2005: Re-modeled and expanded Weaverville member services branch.

2005: Groundbreaking ceremonies held for new two-story member services branch and member support center on Central Avenue, McKinleyville.

2007: Received “Best Bank or Credit Union on the Northcoast” award in the Times-Standard readers poll for the sixth year in a row!

2007: Michelle Rector, Board member since 2001, resigned and was replaced by Diane Leiker. Leiker served as a member of the Supervisory Committee since 1985, 20 years as its Chair.

2007: The new 33,000 square foot Member Support Center and Member Services Branch on Central Avenue, McKinleyville was completed and opened its doors on Monday, June 25th at 9:30am. The first member transaction of McKinleyville member Sandra Garcia was received by Nate Rivera. Manager, Member Services Richard Junkin led his staff into a successful opening day.

2007: Broke through the $700 million in assets on July 11,2007.