Over the course of rehabbing this house, i have taken the long way home every time we go out of town during disastrous projects. Even in the cold autumn rain we detoured to a place i have been wanting to see. The rain stopped, the sun came out and we didn't want to leave.
Of course, all of this happened a long time ago. I am still a touch behind. The kids think it's funny when i say things like that...a touch.
Dillard
Mill is the second mill structure at this site. Wisdom's Mill, the
first mill built here, was constructed in the 1850s. A rock wall
along the Huzzah Creek was blasted open allowing the increased water
flow to the mill needed for its operation. As a result, Huzzah Creek
changed its channel.
Joseph
Dillard Cottrell and his brother, James, later owned Wisdom's Mill
from 1881 to 1889 - years that brought many changes to the area.
During the Cottrells' ownership of the mill, the small community grew
with the establishment of a post office in 1887. It was also during
this time that the community was named Dillard after Joseph Dillard
Cottrell.
In
1889, the Cottrells sold the mill to Andrew
Jackson Mincher. The
mill burned in 1895 during Mincher's ownership. Emil Mischke, an
emigrant from present day Poland, purchased the mill property in 1900
and began construction of the present mill four years later.
Using
some of the hand-hewn timbers salvaged from Wisdom's Mill, Mischke
built a 30-foot x 40-foot structure. Following plans developed by the
Cornelius Mill Furnishing Co. of St. Louis for the interior of his
mill, he installed steel roller mills instead of the more common buhr
stones for grinding the wheat into flour. Another innovation he
introduced was a turbine to power the mill. The new, modernized mill
was completed in 1908.
Mischke's
sister, Mary, became a partner in the milling enterprise in February
1907, and they both worked hard to make the mill a success. Farmers
from the surrounding hills and valleys came to have their grain
ground at the mill. In 1917, Mary sold her portion of the mill back
to her brother, and he remained the sole proprietor of the mill for
several years.
A
decade later, the 66-year-old Mischke decided to send for a
mail-order bride. His new bride, however, found it difficult to
adjust to life in the rugged Ozarks and after only a few years
persuaded Mischke to sell the mill and move to California.
Lester
Klemme became the new mill owner in 1930. In addition to milling
livestock feed and flour, he decided to take advantage of the rustic
Ozark landscape by starting Klemme's Old Mill Lodge. A guest could
spend the night in one of the cabins Klemme built, fish or swim in
the mill pond, and eat at the Klemme table for only $7 a day.
Klemme's
age and a shift in the local economy from farming to mining brought
about the shutdown of the mill in 1956. He continued to operate the
lodge until the 1960s. In 1974, the L-A-D Foundation of St. Louis, a
non-profit organization, bought the property. In 1975, the foundation
leased the mill and surrounding property to the Missouri Department
of Natural Resources to operate as a state historic site. Also on the
property is a building that once housed a general store owned by Adam
Wilhite.
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