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History · Freeport

Freeport’s post office opened in 1881, and 26% of its homes were built before 1940

Its Register listing is the Church of the Sacred Heart (Catholic). Below: maps from 1965 on and the census since 1900.

1881first post office
1on the National Register
26%homes built before 1940
1famous people
Add an old photoShare a memory
Quick answers

How Freeport began

When was Freeport founded?

1881

The Freeport post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name. Another post office, Oak Station (1875), opened inside today’s city and later closed.

First census: 313 in 19002020 census: 675145 years
Founding year: the first Freeport post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Freeport’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenNo old photos of Freeport are in the public archives yet. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Freeport’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Freeport’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
0 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Freeport came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Freeport.

Read it all →

A post office called Freeport has been in operation since 1881. The city was named after Freeport, Illinois. Freeport was incorporated in 1892. The city contains two properties listed on the National Register of Historic Places: the 1905 Church of the Sacred Heart and remnants of the 1898 Swany White Flour Mills.

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Freeport, 1875 to 1965

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1875Post officeThe Oak Station post office opens
  3. 1881Post officeThe Oak Station post office closes
  4. 1881Post officeThe Freeport post office opens
  5. 20th century
  6. 1943Born hereBud Heidgerken is born here
  7. 1965On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological Survey
By decade

Freeport, decade by decade

Today12 recent
Lake Wobegone Trail Marker-Freeport, Minnesota-012024Lake Wobegone Trail Marker-Freeport, Minnesota-01First Avenue North-Freeport, Minnesota2024First Avenue North-Freeport, MinnesotaCity Hall-Freeport, Minnesota-022024City Hall-Freeport, Minnesota-02City Hall-Freeport, Minnesota-012024City Hall-Freeport, Minnesota-01Swany White Flour Mills2014Swany White Flour Mills2013-0408-FreeportRollerMillandHouse20132013-0408-FreeportRollerMillandHouseFreeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 062010Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 06Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 052010Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 05Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 042010Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 04Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 032010Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 03Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 022010Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 02Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 012010Freeport Roller Mill, Swany White Flour 01
On the map

Freeport on the map, 1965 to 1979

Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Freeport. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.

Freeport on the 1965 USGS mapFreeport on the 1979 USGS map1965Freeport sheet · 1:24,000

U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Freeport.

On the National Register

1 historic place in Freeport

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
1
each building in a district counts
first listed
1991
Church of the Sacred Heart (Catholic)
Church of the Sacred Heart (Catholic)
Buildings

Architectural styles listings

Second Gothic Revival1
Romanesque Revival1
Church of the Sacred Heart (Catholic)Second Gothic Revival

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

People over time

Freeport, census by census

01002003004005006007001900192019401960198020002020675

Grew from 313 people in 1900 to 675 in 2020.

13 censuses, 1900–2020.

U.S. Census Bureau decennial counts, from the census table on Freeport’s Wikipedia page.

Places that used to be

Lost post offices, places now gone and burying grounds

Freeport’s post office has been open since 1881. Another post office, Oak Station, opened and closed inside today’s town.

Oak Station
1875–1881
Freeport
1881–today
18701950today
Gone or out of use
Freeportlocale
1cemetery inside Freeport
Sacred Heart

US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).

Stories next door

History across the town line

Each neighbor’s History grade, on the same three inputs.

Oak TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its townMillwood TownshipIts storynot graded: under 1,000 residents or part of its town

Questions about Freeport’s history

What year was Freeport founded?

The Freeport post office opened in 1881, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Freeport?

One place: the Church of the Sacred Heart (Catholic) (listed 1991).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (12), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, Wikidata and Wikipedia for famous people, U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, U.S. Census counts (via Wikipedia), the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.