Picture Courtesy of Jim Kuntz

Picture Courtesy of Jim KUntz

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 that 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 from Wisdom's Mill, built the mill that stands 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.

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