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In April of 1935, a group of locals from Almenara got together to defend their interests and set up the "San Roque" Agricultural Union of Almenara, with the motto "Be there for one another and God will be there for all". It is estimated that this Catholic union had fewer than 200 members, and the chair of its first Steering Committee was Jesús Bordils Llopis.
The aim of the Union was to buy fertiliser, seeds, and farm tools, as well as other elements to improve agriculture. It set up its own Rural Savings Bank Section to offer deposits and loans to its members.
On 2 August 1944, the general assembly decided to apply the Cooperatives Act of 2 January 1942, and its Regulations passed on 11 November 1943. On 31 December of that year, it had a total of 87 members. The name of the new entity was the San Roque Agricultural Cooperative of Almenara, and it continued to run a Rural Savings Bank Section.
The Cooperative offices and the branch of its Rural Savings Bank Section were located at No. 38 Calle Mártires, and in 1947 they moved to No. 12, Calle Palillo (now Dr. Berenguer). In 1953, two houses were purchased in the Plaza de Calvo Sotelo (now La Font) to construct its headquarters.
In 1954, work began on the new headquarters of the Agricultural Cooperative. On the ground floor of this building stood a Cafeteria, the Board Room, the Cooperative offices and the branch of the Rural Savings Bank Section. The first floor housed a recreation room and the home of the grocer. The premises were inaugurated in 1955 and proved extraordinarily popular with members, who began to frequent them regularly.
The number of members continued to increase, and the cooperative went from strength to strength, acquiring land in 1964 to build a warehouse. The size of this construction was approximately 800 square metres. The new warehouse, inaugurated in 1966, represented a decisive step in the economic development of the cooperative, since almost all its members used this new warehouse for their supplies.
In 1968, the Extraordinary General Assembly meeting held on 11 December made the decision to apply the Ministerial Order issued by the Ministry of Tax and Finance on 14 June 1968, which authorised the credit sections of agricultural cooperatives to have their own legal status and autonomy. This Assembly meeting also approved the Corporate by-laws of the new entity, known as the "Cooperativa de Crédito Caja Rural San Roque de Almenara", which now had its own autonomy, management, and could operate within a larger remit, allowing it to embark on a new era that enabled it to better meet the needs of its members and provide more services, soon leading to a substantial increase in its resources.
In 1970, land was acquired in Calle Dr. Berenguer, on the corner of Santos Juanes, which was used to build the headquarters and branch of the Rural Savings Bank. This building was inaugurated in June 1974 and is the current headquarters of this bank.
In the year 1979, the Corporate by-laws of the Agricultural Cooperative and the Rural Savings Bank were modified, changing the trading name to "Caja Rural San Roque de Almenara, S. Coop. De Crédito Ltda."
The previous headquarters located in Plaza La Font, with the exception of the grocer's home located on the first floor, were made fully available to our members and customers as a recreation room and cafeteria.
Since then, Caja Rural de Almenara has grown in products and services, allocating part of its profits to the social, economic, and cultural life of Almenara in the form of donations, subsidies and financial assistance to various institutions and collectives in the town, thereby helping the people of Almenara to grow and thrive.