The $1.4 million branch, set along Brazosport Boulevard north of the city, sports drive-through tellers, six inside tellers and six loan officers. It also has a coffee bar and play area for children. Construction began in October and was finished last month.

“Everybody’s been very positive,” branch manager Luke Billeri said. “They appreciate our investment in the community.”

The credit union was started in 1954 by Dow Chemical Co. employees in Freeport who pooled their initial investment to lend $35 for a new refrigerator.

Since then, TDECU has grown into a $1.3 billion lending agency with 14 branches stretching from Victoria to Houston, Billeri said.

But until this week, residents and employees in the credit union’s birthplace have had to drive to the main office in Lake Jackson to bank.

“This is a nice moment for me. I grew up right over there,” Marcus Stephenson, credit union board chairperson, said as he pointed north from the new branch’s front door. Stephenson said there will be more lending in Freeport as the credit union’s membership within the city swells due to the branch location’s convenience.

“I work in the plants, so this is so much more easy,” Sweeny resident Robert Savage said in the branch’s lobby. “I don’t have to drive to Lake Jackson and miss lunch.”