MILL EQUIPMENT

Wisdom's Mill was later owned by Joseph Dillard Cottrell and his brother, James. They owned the 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. During Mincher's ownership, the first mill burned in 1895.

Emil Mischke, an emigrant from Walde, Poland, came to the United States in 1893 with his sister, Mary, and settled in Missouri. He bought the mill property on Dec. 4, 1900, and four years later began constructing the mill that still stands today.

Using some of the hand-hewn timbers salvaged from Wisdom's Mill, he built a 30'x40' structure. Following plans developed by the Cornelius Mill Furnishing Co. of St. Louis for the interior of his mill, Mischke 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 Mischkes' mill. In 1917, Mary Mischke 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. The new Mrs. Mischke, 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 E. 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 millpond, 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 and continued to live on the property until 1974. At that time he sold the mill and property to the not-for-profit L-A-D Foundation of St. Louis. This foundation leased Dillard Mill and the surrounding property to the Missouri Department of Natural Resources as a state historic site on Dec. 1, 1975.