Freeman is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either hav ...

Spokane County Spokane County is a county located in the U.S. state of Washington. As of the 2020 census, its population was 539,339, making it the fourth-most populous county in Washington. The largest city and county seat is Spokane, the second largest ci ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

, United States. It is notable as being the location of the public elementary, middle and high schools serving a large area of rural southeast Spokane County.

History

Washington Brick and Lime, headquartered a few miles to the north in

Mica Micas ( ) are a group of silicate minerals whose outstanding physical characteristic is that individual mica crystals can easily be split into extremely thin elastic plates. This characteristic is described as perfect basal cleavage. Mica is ...

, had a plant in Freeman in the late 1800s. Around the turn of the century, a number of businesses opened in Freeman. None remain in business today, but the site of the C.P. Thomas Mercantile and Post Office is now the location of Freeman Market, a small market and restaurant located at the turnoff from State Route 27. Freeman named for Freeman W. Freeman, a telegraph operator at the community's railroad station. The Spokane and Inland Empire Railroad ran through the community. On September 13, 2017, a

school shooting A school shooting is an attack at an educational institution, such as a primary school, secondary school, high school or university, involving the use of firearms. Many school shootings are also categorized as mass shootings due to multiple ...

at Freeman High School resulted in the death of one student and injuries to three others.

Geography

State Route 27 runs through Freeman, connecting it with

Spokane Valley The Spokane Valley is a valley of the Spokane River through the southern Selkirk Mountains in the U.S. state of Washington. The valley is home to the cities of Spokane and its suburbs Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake, and Millwood. The valley i ...

, about ten miles to the north, and the rest of the

Spokane Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Canada ...

area. To the south, State Route 27 connects Freeman with numerous other small towns on the

Palouse The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, prima ...

. Freeman itself is located on the northern edge of the Palouse farming region, with its gentle rolling hills giving way to the foothills of the

Selkirk Mountains The Selkirk Mountains are a mountain range spanning the northern portion of the Idaho Panhandle, eastern Washington, and southeastern British Columbia which are part of a larger grouping of mountains, the Columbia Mountains. They begin at Mica ...

a few miles north and east of Freeman. Mica Peak and its foothills rise immediately to the east and Krell Hill with its TV towers are visible about five miles to the northwest. Little Cottonwood Creek, an ephemeral tributary of

Latah Creek Latah Creek ( ), also known as Hangman Creek, is a large stream in eastern Washington and north central Idaho in the United States. The creek flows northwest from the Rocky Mountains to Spokane, where it empties into the Spokane River. It ...

, flows from the slopes of Mica Peak and along the southeastern edge of the community. Farmland surrounds the community on all sides, with homes spaced well apart. The community itself is dominated by three schools: Freeman Elementary School, Freeman Middle School and Freeman High School. There are also grain elevators and a market on State Route 27 at Freeman. Freeman sits at the junction of three

ecoregions An ecoregion (ecological region) or ecozone (ecological zone) is an ecologically and geographically defined area that is smaller than a bioregion, which in turn is smaller than a biogeographic realm. Ecoregions cover relatively large areas o ...

as defined by the

World Wildlife Fund The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

, giving the area traits from all three. The

Okanagan dry forests Okanagan dry forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion in the Pacific Northwest of North America, as defined by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) categorization system. It is closely associated with the Okanagan region of British Columbia an ...

ecoregion begins at Freeman and stretches northwest through

, the

Okanagan The Okanagan ( ), also known as the Okanagan Valley and sometimes as the Okanagan Country, is a region in the Canadian province of British Columbia defined by the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Canadian portion of the Okanagan River. It is pa ...

, and into the

Thompson Plateau The Thompson Plateau forms the southern portion of the Interior Plateau of British Columbia, Canada, lying to the west of Okanagan Lake, south of the Thompson River and east of (although never adjoining it) the Fraser River. At its most southern po ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include ...

. Tall

ponderosa pine ''Pinus ponderosa'', commonly known as the ponderosa pine, bull pine, blackjack pine, western yellow-pine, or filipinus pine is a very large pine tree species of variable habitat native to mountainous regions of western North America. It is t ...

trees are a remnant of the nature of the ecoregion prior to development of the community and agriculture. In the immediate vicinity of Freeman, the Okanagan dry forests transition into the rolling, grassy hills of

Palouse grasslands The Palouse ( ) is a distinct geographic region of the northwestern United States, encompassing parts of north central Idaho, southeastern Washington, and, by some definitions, parts of northeast Oregon. It is a major agricultural area, primar ...

ecoregion. The Palouse grasslands and Okanagan dry forests transition into the

North Central Rockies forests The North Central Rockies forests is a temperate coniferous forest ecoregion of Canada and the United States. This region overlaps in large part with the North American inland temperate rainforest and gets more rain on average than the South Cen ...

as the land climbs up the slopes of the Selkirk Mountains immediately to the north and east.

Gallery

Freemangrain.png, The Rockford Grain Growers Freeman Elevator with State Route 27 to the left. FreemanHighSchool.png, Freeman High School on an autumn afternoon. FreemanSlowZone.png, A sign asking motorists on State Route 27 to slow down as they pass through Freeman.

References

{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Spokane County, Washington Unincorporated communities in Washington (state)