The Farmers and Merchants Bank was the first Black-owned bank with a national charter in the United States, established in Boley in the early 1900s as one of the cornerstones of the town's economic self-sufficiency. The brick building still stands on the main street of the historic district.
The bank's most dramatic moment came in November 1932, when outlaws from Pretty Boy Floyd's gang attempted a daylight robbery. The bank president was killed, but townspeople fought back and the robbery was foiled. For a community that had built its identity around self-reliance and defiance of the limitations placed on Black Americans, the incident became a source of pride. The building is one of the most historically charged addresses in Oklahoma.