National Register #100007484
Freestone Store
500 Bohemian Highway
Built 1872

The town of Freestone, established in 1870, is a rural community with a long agricultural and recreational history.

The store faces the former site of the North Pacific Coast Railroad, which ran through Freestone from 1876 until 1930. Despite 1876 in wooden numbers (added to the façade after 1970), Freestone Store was built prior to the railroad, probably in 1872.

Freestone Store is a prime example of the Italianate and Western False Front architectural styles.

The first floor, originally one large commercial space, has been divided into two spaces since the 1940s. The left side of the building is two stories, with a commercial space on the first floor and an apartment on the second floor. The second floor was used as a dance hall by loggers in the 1890s and a gathering place for local residents into the 1940s. In the mid-1940s, advertisements for a three-bedroom flat at the store indicate that this space had been converted to residential use.

Source: NRHP nomination submitted in 2022.

The Freestone Store is Sonoma County Landmark 5.