Farmers' Bank of Rustico, Bank building in Lot 24, Canada

The Farmers' Bank of Rustico is a one-and-a-half-storey building in British classical style, constructed between 1861 and 1863 from Prince Edward Island sandstone quarried at St. Ann's and Rustico. Its facade has a central door and seven symmetrically placed sash windows, and the seventeen types of stone cutting show it was built communally. The adjacent Doucet House, moved to the site in 1999 from Grand-Père Point, is restored to its pioneer appearance.

Father Georges-Antoine Belcourt, who arrived in Rustico in 1859, gathered $4,000 from 350 Acadian families and had the bank incorporated by the island legislature on April 21, 1863. Royal assent followed on April 7, 1864, delayed by the small capital of 800 pounds sterling. The bank operated until its charter lapsed on June 1, 1894, after the 1871 Bank Act set a $500,000 capital requirement.

The bank served the local Acadian community by making financial services accessible to ordinary people and issuing its own currency from 1864 to 1894. Visitors can see how this institution shaped the economic life of residents at that time.

The building and the adjacent Doucet House are open to visitors interested in early banking and Acadian settlement history. It is helpful to spend time at both locations to gain a full understanding of how the institution and local community developed.

The bank kept its working funds in specie and issued its own currency, but never built a substantial reserve fund, preferring to return most annual profits to shareholders as dividends. Its charter lapsed on 1 June 1894 after a special request in 1891 failed to extend it.