Hodgson-Aid Mill, also known as Hodgson Water Mill and Aid-Hodgson Mill, is a historic grist mill located on Bryant Creek near Sycamore, Ozark County, Missouri. It was constructed around 1897, and is a -story, timber frame mill building covered with red-painted weatherboards. Associated with the mill are the man-made mill pond and the limestone barrel vault constructed at the base of the cliff where Hodgson Spring discharges. The mill has not been in operation since 1976. It is privately owned. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. History The area around Hodgson-Aid Mill had been settled prior to the Civil War; Ozark County, Missouri was organized in 1841, and until 1857, included parts of Howell and Douglas County. The Hodgson-Aid Water Mill is at least the second mill to be located on the Hodgson Mill Spring. In the early 1860s, William Holeman settled on Bryant Creek and constructed a water mill on or near the site of the Hodgson-Aid Mill. This mill was closed during the Civil War. It is unclear whether Holeman reopened this original mill, or whether he had to construct a new mill after the war. It is reported that Holeman's mill was powered by a vertical wood turbine. Holeman operated the mill until his death in 1879. In 1884, Alva Hodgson and his mother, Mary Elizabeth Hodgson, purchased the mill from Manuel and Elizabeth Smith, the parents of Alva's future wife, Mary Elizabeth Smith Hodgson, for $500.00. Alva Hodgson continued to operate Holeman's existing mill, but made plans to construct a state-of-the-art mill capable of producing new white or "patent" flour, a higher quality flour than had previously been produced, made possible by the invention of the "middlings purifier" around 1870. Hodgson used this new milling machinery, including roller mills, and also installed two vertical steel water turbines, known as "Leffel turbines" or now as Francis Turbines. The mill building also housed a general store and the Sycamore post office, sawmill, and cotton gin. Like other rural gristmills, the mill was likely an economic hub of the community. Farmers visited the mill to have their grain (corn and wheat) to be ground into flour and meal, and were able to buy and sell their crops, as well as other goods and services. The store "not only sold necessities - groceries, hardware, and dry goods - it also bought every valuable commodity