Built in 1851 and opened for business in 1852 by the Dinkelspiel family after their recent emigration from Germany, this store was constructed of rhyolite tuff blocks from the Altaville Quarry. The small adjoining building was originally used as a saddle shop and later became the Wells Fargo Company's express office. L. Dinkelspiel and Co. was the first Wells Fargo agent in Vallecito, part of the network of express companies that handled mail in the Mother Lode before the Post Office was established in 1854.