Rossland Post Office, Rossland, BC
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T0SHEA
N 49° 04.623 W 117° 47.914
11U E 441681 N 5436328
When you carve a new town out of the wilderness, what is one of the first things on the to-do list?
Waymark Code: WMFTG1
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 11/28/2012
Views: 1
When you carve a new town out of the wilderness, what is one of the first things on the to-do list?
And when rich silver and gold ore is discovered, a town follows almost immediately. Pieced together in the wilderness and stretching east from the foot of the most famous of the many mines in the area, The Le Roi Mine, Rossland was first and foremost a mining town.
Shortly after the turn of the 20th century, Rossland was still booming and its present post office was built. It was, when built, a grand building, built of stone and brick and sporting a steeply pitched mansard roof, bow windows, and elegant brick and stone façades on its dormers. In the intervening years it has lost its upper storey and a lot of its grandeur, but remains a post office to be proud of. At the time of its construction it also contained the Customs Office, as Rossland was the first sign of civilization north of the border.
In 1929 a devastating fire destroyed everything on the block except the post office and the Bank of Montreal. The post office's upper storey was destroyed and not rebuilt, but, though badly damaged, the rest of the building was restored.
It sits on the northwest corner of Columbia Avenue and Queen Street. The view is from across the intersection, looking northwest.