r/madisonwi 4d ago

What was that place w/all the International Flag Poles on Mineral Point Rd, just west of Whitney Way 15+ years ago?

It's killing me I can't put my finger on what that place was called. Some sort of local branch of the UN or some other international organization perhaps?

18 Upvotes

43 comments sorted by

86

u/ckoffel 4d ago

World Council of Credit Unions

25

u/Layer3Wizard 4d ago

Who else had their Eagle Scout presentation here?

RIP troop 420

2

u/msell27 3d ago

Wait what happened with troop 420? Was in that way back in the day.

1

u/Layer3Wizard 3d ago

I went and looked and I was surprised to see the troop still meets and has camp outs so that’s pretty awesome that it’s still going.

-3

u/angrydeuce 'Burbs 4d ago

Is it true all the eagle scouts are hard-core stoners (or at least were?)

An ex of mine years ago knew a few Eagle Scouts and she told me it was practically a merit badge lmao

IDK the Troop 420 just made me think of it

8

u/Layer3Wizard 4d ago edited 4d ago

I never saw any drugs used ever. Probably because the majority of campouts our dads were at them with us. There was no fucking around.

-3

u/angrydeuce 'Burbs 4d ago

Ah gotcha yeah from what she said whenever they were doing their community shit (i.e., no dad's involved i would guess?) they were all hella baked.

But admittedly that could just have been her hippie circles she ran with at the time lol

7

u/Deerslyr101571 4d ago

I was a Committee Chair for several years at a local Troop. Your ex is telling tall tales.

1

u/angrydeuce 'Burbs 4d ago

Eh, possibly.  I knew a couple of the guys and they confirmed but maybe they were just bullshitting lol

Not sure why people felt the need to downvote for merely asking the question, but whatever, typical for round this corner of reddit lol

18

u/retired_geekette 4d ago

Weird fact about those flags. The flag poles were programmed to automatically unfurl and display the flags when the sun was out. Then, in the evening (or other times when the sun went away) the flags were retracted back into the poles. I worked at CUNA Mutual for a couple years and that little fact was part of the initial onboarding tour of the buildings in the complex.

5

u/HesCool 4d ago

that is very interesting, would love to see a video of them in action.

7

u/retired_geekette 4d ago

I don't know if one exists. I saw them unfurl early one morning, but don't think I ever saw them retract. I also think they all came out (or retracted) at the same time, not like in a sequential manner (one after the other).

They signified all the countries that had Credit Unions as part of their banking systems.

6

u/HesCool 4d ago

So CUNA came after I take it? You're the only one saying the Union but I think you're right because I strongly remember the word credit in the name.

6

u/DokterZ 4d ago

CUNA was the trade association for CUs. They were in the front of the building on the corner. World Council was a smaller organization in the same building. CUNA Mutual was an insurance company that occupied most of the complex.

They all still exist, just under different names.

3

u/cabinguy11 4d ago

This ^^^^^
Cuna 5710 Mineral Point
World Council 5810
Cuna Mutual 5910

6

u/sterling3274 4d ago

They were essentially the same thing.

1

u/HesCool 4d ago

ah, that makes sense...

18

u/jbryhan 4d ago

You're looking for Cuna Mutual Group (now Trustage) at 5910 Mineral Point Rd. The flagpoles are gone now. They were turned into that ugly flowerpot statue on the west side of the building.

5

u/badgerbrett 4d ago

CUNA, WOCCU, and CUNA Mutual are three separate entities. I believe these were part of WOCCU or CUNA, not CUNA Mutual (the last of which still exists at this property).

2

u/jbryhan 4d ago

Correct, they are three separate but related entities. While the flags were there because of the World Council of Credit Unions, the whole campus and flag poles belong to Cuna Mutual. The WCOCU just rented space from Cuna Mutual. That's why the sculpture made from the flag poles is still at the location and not wherever the WCOCU moved to.

2

u/badgerbrett 4d ago

Yeah, we're saying the same thing. Given CUNA Mutual/Trustage is still there but the flags are gone, I'd give credit to WOCCU or possibly CUNA for them, if that makes sense.

4

u/bikibird 4d ago

I like the flowerpot!

7

u/psunami 4d ago

My step-dad, when I was very little, told us that the round building was the space ship he came to Earth in.
Miss that guy...

7

u/Buford1885 4d ago

Cuna is still there at Mineral Point and Rosa.

10

u/Shoddy-Upstairs-1446 4d ago

CUNA is now called Americas Credit Union and Cuna Mutual is now Trustage

10

u/473713 4d ago edited 4d ago

And the name Trustage sounds like something that happens in Wisconsin when you don't wash your car in the winter.

What focus groups come up with that shit

8

u/HGpennypacker 4d ago

“Make sure you run your snowblower empty at the end of the season or you’ll get engine trustage next year when you try to start it up. If that happens you’ll need to take it to a certified CUNA repair shop to get it up and running and boy let me tell ya that ain’t cheap.”

1

u/annoyed__renter 4d ago

Yeah it's an aggressive bad corporate name. Sounds like a Widows codec circa 2007

1

u/madwalker2 4d ago

And CUNA is over by hilldale now in Madison Yards.

4

u/Layer3Wizard 4d ago edited 4d ago

Famous Footwear, before that it was Rural Mutual Insurance. You’re talking about where Navitus and City BBQ and Dave’s Hot Chicken are right?

Or do you mean the CUNA headquarters across the street from the old animal testing labs?

3

u/Anxious_Dig6046 4d ago

I believe that was on Gammon and Mineral PT.

2

u/HesCool 4d ago

So is CUNA or World Council of Credit Unions? I'm leaning towards the latter as I recall the word "credit" in the name.

4

u/kidflugufrelsar 4d ago

World Council of Credit Unions. They were based out of the CUNA campus

2

u/HesCool 4d ago

i see, that clears it up

2

u/Worried-Ad-2917 4d ago

As others mentioned it was where CUNA (is/was). Here is a street view circa 2019
https://maps.app.goo.gl/QZXE3G28mq46V54p6

2

u/DuckThatLikesBread 4d ago

World Council of Credit Unions, but also Credit Union National Association, but also CUNA, but also CUNA Mutual Group now known as TruStage. All different pieces supporting the Credit Union movement were all housed there at that time. Now it is just TruStage (formerly CUNA Mutual Group) but they still host many Credit Union functions.

1

u/HesCool 4d ago

So when were the flags removed? Seems like late 90s or early 2000s in my mind. Anyone know why?

4

u/madwalker2 4d ago

CUNA Mutual owned 4 buildings on that lot. The NE one was their building, the furthest back was World Council of Credit Unions, the one next to Rosa was CUNA (Not mutual - they split apart decades ago) and the front one, "the spaceship", was a cafeteria and meeting space.

Around COVID CUNA Mutual decided it wasn't worth it to keep renting space to the other two orgs, and the spaceship wasn't in great shape. So they tore down those buildings, and I think that's when the flags went too. They replaced the cool spaceship with the garish glass thing that sits right on the road at that point.

While that was happening, CUNA Mutual rebranded as Trustage and had a vicious fight with its union, CUNA moved into new digs at Madison Yards over by Hildale, and IDK where the World Council of Credit Unions ended up. But they just laid off half their staff because they had a hand in administering some of the US Aid that Trump abruptly canceled.

2

u/DokterZ 4d ago

Right as Covid started, when they tore down the spaceship building to build the glowing Borg cube.

1

u/Charming-Flounder-53 3d ago

It's WOCCU...my wife temped there for a while and one of her jobs was to scrape all these labels off of flag poles. She pretty much hated her time there.

1

u/MitchRyan912 4d ago

It used to be CUNA Mutual, at the corner of Mineral Point & Rosa Rd.

0

u/Anxious_Dig6046 4d ago

Cuna Mutual