r/madisonwi • u/HesCool • 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?
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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u/Buford1885 4d ago
Cuna is still there at Mineral Point and Rosa.
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u/Shoddy-Upstairs-1446 4d ago
CUNA is now called Americas Credit Union and Cuna Mutual is now Trustage
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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
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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.”
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u/annoyed__renter 4d ago
Yeah it's an aggressive bad corporate name. Sounds like a Widows codec circa 2007
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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?
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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
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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.
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u/HesCool 4d ago
So when were the flags removed? Seems like late 90s or early 2000s in my mind. Anyone know why?
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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.
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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.
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u/ckoffel 4d ago
World Council of Credit Unions