Court at Hillston was held on 28 August 1873 in a room at one of the hotels in the town. The first church at Hillston was of the Anglican denomination. A Roman Catholic church was built during the 1880s. The first Pastoral and Agricultural Show was held at Hillston in 1881. A hospital was erected in the township in 1882; the cost of the building was raised by voluntary subscription. A new post-office was completed in 1883 (in the charge of Mr. W. S. Bellamy). A courthouse at Hillston was completed in about 1883. Hillston became a municipality in 1888. The store that became known as Nall, Jackson & Co. Ltd. was established in 1889; the firm had changed its name on various occasions, being known as "Villa and Rossi", "Villa, Rossi and Nall", "J. T. Jackson", and "Nall, Jackson & Co." Nall, Jackson & Co., which later opened branches at Merriwagga and Goolgowi, became a mainstay of the Hillston and district community. A Presbyterian Church was built at Hillston in 1890. A magistrate was resident at Hillston until 1916, after which the Hay magistrate visited once a month. Following the First World War, the Hillston area was divided into relatively small rural properties onto which returning soldiers were repatriated under the New South Wales soldier settlement scheme. The railway between Griffith and Hillston was completed in 1923 and large areas of Crown land along the route were made available for selection. By the end of the 1920s, with the influx of population to the district, the prevailing optimistic mood led to progress and growth at Hillston. A lighting system was installed at Hillston in 1929. During the same year the old Club House Hotel was replaced by a two-storey building and the Royal Mail Hotel was extended. The firm of Messrs. Parker and Cordato built rows of shops in the township. In early 1931 the Hillston to Roto railway was completed. In the wake of a land boom during the mid to late-1920s, the reality of marginal nature of the land became manifest and the soldier settlement blocks were found to be too small to be economically viable. The personal and financial hardships experienced during the inter-war decades resulted in many of these families walking off their blocks, and Hillston began to experience a decline. The wool boom of the 1950s led to reconstruction of the town, and gave