The History of Great Plains Federal Credit Union

Great Plains Federal Credit Union was originally chartered in June of 1950 under the name of Spencer Chemical Employees Federal Credit Union. At its origin, this credit union served employees of Spencer Chemical Company of Kansas City, MO.

A name change occurred in February 1966 to Gulf Chemical Employees Federal Credit Union when Gulf Oil Corporation of Pittsburgh, PA purchased Spencer Chemical Company. Growth expanded operations and additional services accompanied this new sponsorship to a membership of 13,000 strong. At the time, Gulf Chemical Employees FCU was the largest in the state of Kansas, an honor held until December of 1996.

Another sponsorship change came about in September of 1983 when Gulf Oil was aquired by Chevron Corporation of San Francisco, CA. The credit union was in need of some serious changes to maintain continued growth with the spin-off of most of Gulf Oil's assets. The need to find working members which could lead to potential borrowers was a top priority for the board of directors.

On October 17th,1985 Gulf Chemical Employees FCU acquired the majority of assets of the former Tip Top Credit Union headquartered in Hillsboro, KS. This acquisition was a positive one for both sides including the expansion of five additional branch office locations in the state of Kansas: Abilene, Hillsboro, Salina, McPherson, and Independence. These were in addition to the already established branches in Orange, TX and Tulsa, OK with the home office still in Pittsburg, KS. We had a name change in December of 1985 to Great Plains Federal Credit Union to define that we no longer served just one single employee group. The fall of 1989 brought another acquisition request from our federal regulators, NCUA to purchase another failed institution, Bell Telephone Employees Credit Union of Salina, KS. This merger took place October 1, 1989. Once again this expansion allowed us to locate another field of membership for potential borrowers while bringing the number of branches in Salina, KS to two. The home office in Pittsburg also expanded its Missouri operations to accommodate two very large trucking employee groups in Joplin in 1989 and 1990, respectively Burlington Motor Carriers and Tri-State Trucking.

Our new headquarters facility is located at 2306 S Rangeline Rd. Joplin, MO. This 24,000 sq. ft building was completed in December of 1996 providing a showplace for the city as well as the newest and most spacious financial institution in Joplin.

The credit union's history has been one of positive growth and one in which the credit union philosophy of "not for profit, but for service" is alive and well in today’s marketplace of financial services. We welcome you to the 5th largest credit union headquartered in Missouri and one of the largest credit unions in the nation.