Rossland was incorporated in 1897 and at least one bank and the courthouse were completed by 1901, the year construction began on this post office, the fifth in Rossland’s history.
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 only two buildings not built of wood. 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 down Columbia Avenue with the Bank of Montreal barely visible at the far end of the block. All the present buildings between post office and bank are post 1929.
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