Klepzig Mill and Farm: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, National Park Service

Jackson, Daniel

The Klepzig Mill and Farm is located within Ozark National Scenic Riverways, in Shannon County, Missouri. The 121 acre landscape is situated along Rocky Creek and backed by Mill Mountain to the southeast. The mill and farm structural complex is surrounded by open agricultural fields and forested hillsides. Access is provided via NPS 730, a narrow gravel drive that connects State Highway H and State Highway NN. The road fords Rocky Creek and passes through the farm landscape in a roughly east west direction, splitting the mill and dam structures to the north and the farmstead to the south. Three buildings remain standing – the mill, the springhouse, and the smokehouse. Extensive structural ruins and a collection of small scale features further articulate the integrity of the historic landscape’s spatial organization. Following a succession of multiple owners over a 55 year period, Walter Klepzig purchased the property in 1912 and improved upon it during the following decades. Although a mill was already in place, it was replaced by Klepzig. He also cleared additional acreage, improved the road, replaced the log cabin residence with a larger house, and built a springhouse and a milking barn. Klepzig used the mill to grind meal and saw boards. The combined mill and agricultural operations allowed his family a relative degree of prosperity. However, as store bought meal became increasingly available in the 1930s, commercial activity at the mill slowed considerably. The Klepzig family traded the mill and farm property for land in nearby Dent County in 1935. That same year it was purchased by Arthur C. Brandt, a businessman from St. Louis. Brandt ended the mill’s commercial operations and instead used it to power a generator that provided electricity to a number of buildings on the farm. In addition to updating and improving the dam, turbine, and mill structure, Brandt also constructed a sizable second residence in the rustic style that was typical of recreational lodges and cabins of that period. The Klepzig Mill and Farm is listed on the National Register of Historic Places at a local level of significance under Criterion A for its representation of the combination of agriculture and commerce on a small “New South Ozarks” farm, and Criterion C for the architectural significance of the sawmill constructed mill. The period of significance is 1912 1936, beginning with Walter Klepzig’s ownership of the property and ending shortly after Arthur Brandt’s purchase and initial improvements to the dam and mill, and construction of the second house. The cultural landscape still retains a sufficient degree of integrity to convey the functionality and character of the historic period.

Klepzig Mill and Farm: Cultural Landscape Inventory, Ozark National Scenic Riverways, National Park Service

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