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James Westover’s DreamJames Ira Halbert Westover was a man of heart and mind. It was 1854 when he fell in love with the rolling hills and cold, clear streams of Crawford County. But while he had an appreciation for the area’s natural beauty, he saw a practical use for the abundant water resources of the region. Early that year, Mr. Westover started work on a sturdy post and beam building, designed to house a water-powered mill. By year’s end, the mill, with its giant water wheel, stood ready for business, and Westover Mill on Dry Creek was born. The mill ground grain and sorghum molasses and soon became a staple for Crawford, Washington, Iron and Dent County citizens. It also powered an immense cording machine, used to manufacture wool for clothing. The Town
In its heyday, the little town that grew up around the mill boasted a general store, a blacksmith shop and a post office. Westover, Missouri even had its own grade school just a mile up the road. Mr. Westover continued to operate the mill for nearly fifty years. Shortly before his death in 1909, James Westover sold the mill to T.J. Branson, who carried on as the millwright at Westover Mill for almost a generation. In the early 1920s, after Mr. Branson’s death, his son Leslie sold the business. The property’s destiny remained tied to the water, but not to the mill. The property passed through the hands of several different owners, who attempted everything from raising goldfish to trout farming. As for the small town of Westover, ghosts and memories are all that remain. Even the old mill building fell victim to fire in the 1980s, leaving no one to stand watch over the water that had fueled the vision and energy of James Ira Halbert Westover and his quaint little town. |
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©2007 Westover Farms, all rights reserved. 
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