Balmoral quickly became its own township including the village hall, a railway station, post office, school and cemetery. The original village hall in 1891, was known as the Mechanics Institute; Contrary to modern definitions the Mechanics Institute was used as a community hall to house free community education for teaching skills, sharing experiences and hosting community events.
The original mechanics institute was destroyed by fire in the 1936, and was rebuilt over 1938/1939, where the existing hall remains today.
A letter from a late resident, Dorothy Brown (Born 1915) from 1988 described the village hall:
The Mechanics Institute was situated on the land where the Hall now stands. It was built like a small cottage with a large hall attached to one side. In one room was the library, another room was used as the kitchen for the supper at the dances. Dances, concerts, church services and Sunday School were held in the Hall.
Tennis was played on the court at the rear of the building, usually on Wednesday. Mr Kerslake was one of the few players, who being the postmaster and storekeeper closed his shop on Wednesday – it being the custom in those days to have Saturday afternoon trading.
The school of Arts was burnt down in 1936 by a bushfire, despite valiant efforts by the bushfire fighters. Teddy Ladbury, then a teenager, climbed in through a window and others passed buckets of water to him, until he was told to get out, as the fire could not be stopped. The new Hall was built by builders from Picton.