Mail services improved after the opening in 1867 of the Great Southern Railway through the district, where the new townships of Mittagong, Bowral and Moss Vale developed around stations.

A post office had opened in the Nattai (Mittagong) area in 1862, located at the Fitzroy Inn and from 1866 at a store near the station. At the other fledgling towns, a post office opened in 1864 at Bowral, located in an inn, and in December 1867 at Moss Vale in brick premises.

The postal service was controlled by a cabinet minister, known as the Postmaster-General. A close working arrangement developed between the Government's railway and postal departments. From 1865 the TPO (travelling post office) operated on trains and postal employees would drop mail bags at stations. From the 1860s post offices acquired ancillary services including telegraph and savings bank facilities. Post offices, like railway stations, became focal centres of social interaction. Government architects designed imposing post office buildings for city, suburban and regional centres.

By the 1880s the local district's three new townships were expanding and flourishing. A two-storey, solid brick, official Post and Telegraph Office was built in each town - at Bowral in 1887 on Bong Bong Street, at Mittagong in May 1891 on Station Street, and at Moss Vale in December 1891 near the station.

Moss Vale's building is considered by many as being very stylish and elegant. It ceased as a post office in the 1990s but still graces the town, beautifully restored as a café and restaurant. When first proposed in the 1880s, however, its location did not please some residents, as the following history of postal services at Moss Vale will reveal.

The Berrima District Post of January 8, 1965 ran an article headed 'Story of Moss Vale PO' contributed by the historical officer, Postmaster-General's Department, Sydney, who sourced it from official post office records. It began by declaring that "one of the most outstanding buildings in Moss Vale's main street is the two-storey post office - and it has a fascinating history".

According to the article, the first request for a post office at Moss Vale was in early 1867. Lewis Levy of Berrima applied for the position of postmaster, writing that "there is now about to be formed a township at the railway station Sutton Forest North, better known as Moss Vale". He had purchased some ground to erect a general store and, there being no post office within four miles of the station, he requested the place be declared a post town and he be appointed postmaster. Other applicants were A G Morley, T Hanny, James Clifford, E L Royer and James Taylor.

Clifford was the successful applicant, who advised that he would conduct postal business at his two-storey brick premises in Moss Vale. He opened his post office on 14 December 1867, and was paid 12 pounds per annum. Money order facilities were provided from March 1868. Contractors conveyed the mail to outlying villages.

Clifford resigned, due to a leg injury, and storekeeper Lewis Levy was appointed postmaster on February 1, 1870. His store was near the corner of Berrima Road (now Waite Street) and Old Argyle Rd (now Argyle St). Initially this was the town's major intersection, where the roads from Berrima and Sutton Forest met. It was only gradually that the railway station, to the north along Argyle Street, became the town's hub.

The stationmaster, Frederick Somers, suggested to the Postmaster-General in May 1871 that the post office be moved to the railway station, where all public telegraph messages were received and sent by him, although he received no remuneration for the service. A petition with over 70 signatures, protesting that the station was about half a mile from the "principal portion of the town", was unsuccessful.

Somers was appointed postmaster on July 1, 1871. Postal business was conducted under makeshift conditions in a partitioned portion of the ticket office. Somers' son carried out most of the postal work with the occasional help of a railway porter. Would these arrangements last?