Dillard Schoolhouse/Wisdom's Mill - Dillard, MO
Posted by: 
YoSam.
N 37° 43.124 W 091° 12.417
15S E 658030 N 4176122
This mill started as Wisdom's Mill
Waymark Code: WMMX3H
Location: Missouri, United States
Date Posted: 11/18/2014
Views: 3
County of marker: Crawford County
Location of marker gravel path at edge of mill pond, off Old Dillard Mill Rd., Dillard Mill State Historic Site
marker erected by: Missouri Department of Natural Resources
Marker text:
Dillard Schoolhouse
The first public school in Dillard was located in this vicinity. Pictured here as it appeared in 1898, this one-room, frame school was washed away in a flood. Its replacement, completed in 1908, was relocated north of this area and was later destroyed by fire.
A third stone school burned in 1938 and was replaced by another built under the Works Progress Administration (WPA) during the Great Depression. The building was made of stone, sometimes called Ozark giraffe rock. It served the children of Dillard until consolidation with the Cherryville School, ten mile away. Though empty, this building still stands today and is visible from the road leading to Dillard Mill State Historic Site.
Wisdom's Mill
About 75 paces on this path toward Dillard Mill, Francis Wisdom built a water-powered gristmill in the 1850s. Very little is known about the appearance of this mill or its operation except that its dam was frequently the backdrop for photographers.
In 1881, the mill was purchased by Joseph Dillard Cottrell. The hamlet of Dillard was named after "Dill Cottrell," as he was known locally, and the village developed around the mill -- its chief commercial enterprise.
In 1895 the mill burned. By the time the businesses in Dillard had already begun shifting a mile north to relocate near the Sligo and Eastern Railroad line. Shortly after 1900, Emil Mischke, using timbers salvaged from Wisdom's Mill, built the mill that stand today at Dillard Mill State Historic Site (often called Mischke's mill by local residents). Lester Klemme was the last to operate the mill commercially. When it closed in 1956, the mill was producing cattle feed.