History of Dodgeville

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History of Dodgeville

History of Dodgeville

DODGEVILLE: LINKING YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW With its striking vistas and hidden valleys, traveling through southwestern Wisconsin's rolling countryside is akin to experiencing the landscape unfurl before you.

In 1827, when Dodgeville was founded, it wasn't the landscape that enticed the adventurer Henry Dodge, his family, and about 40 miners to set up camp here - it was the lead that the land would yield. Many stone cottages still exist in the area once known as Dirty Hollow - a name that was later gentrified as Miners' Hollow before the settlement was absorbed into Dodgeville-proper.

Dodge made a pact with the local Winnebago Indians and they built a crude fort and smelting operation. Soon more than 100 miners were working claims on the ridges surrounding the fort. A small cabin, believed to be from Dodge's original party, has been restored at 100 E Fountain St.

These first European immigrants were of English, Irish, Scots, and French descent. Within a few years, Welsh and Cornish miners arrived from the British Isles, drawn by tales of ore deposits so rich that it lay atop the ground-a tale belied by the image of "Dodge's Diggings." Lead mining peaked here in 1845. Many miners left for the California Gold Rush of 1849, but the mining continued for decades. A Slag Furnace, built in 1875, still stands in the 400 block of W Spring St.

As for Henry Dodge, in 1836 he became Wisconsin's first Territorial Governor, following a distinguished military career, and later served as United States Senator in the years leading up to the Civil War. The town that bears Henry Dodge's name grew and expanded as a business and agricultural center. After a bitter dispute with Mineral Point, which had been the county seat, the present Courthouse was built in 1859. The architects were Thomas Carkeek and Samuel Cornelius, the same two men who later built the Slag Furnace (400 block of West Spring St.) and the Old Rock School (914 N Bequette St). Today Dodgeville is the mercantile center for Iowa County, and a significant portion of southwest Wisconsin, benefiting from a balanced economy that blends industry, agriculture, and tourism.

This cross-section drawing depicts what "Dodge's Diggings" and other
early Wisconsin lead mining operations looked like.

From the Wisconsin Historical Society


		History of Dodgeville DODGEVILLE: LINKING YESTERDAY, TODAY & TOMORROW With its striking vistas and hidden valleys, traveling through southwestern Wisconsin's rolling countryside is akin to experiencing the landscape unfurl before you. In 1827, when Dodgeville was founded, it wasn't the landscape that enticed the adventurer Henry Dodge, his family, and about 40 miners to set up camp here - it was the lead that the land would yield. Many stone cottages still exist in the area once known as Dirty Hollow - a name that was later gentrified as Miners' Hollow before the settlement was absorbed into Dodgeville-proper. Dodge made a pact with the local Winnebago Indians and they built a crude fort and smelting operation. Soon more than 100 miners were working claims on the ridges surrounding the fort. A small cabin, believed to be from Dodge's original party, has been restored at 100 E Fountain St.



		These first European immigrants were of English, Irish, Scots, and French descent. Within a few years, Welsh and Cornish miners arrived from the British Isles, drawn by tales of ore deposits so rich that it lay atop the ground-a tale belied by the image of "Dodge's Diggings." Lead mining peaked here in 1845. Many miners left for the California Gold Rush of 1849, but the mining continued for decades. A Slag Furnace, built in 1875, still stands in the 400 block of W Spring St. As for Henry Dodge, in 1836 he became Wisconsin's first Territorial Governor, following a distinguished military career, and later served as United States Senator in the years leading up to the Civil War. The town that bears Henry Dodge's name grew and expanded as a business and agricultural center. After a bitter dispute with Mineral Point, which had been the county seat, the present Courthouse was built in 1859. The architects were Thomas Carkeek and Samuel Cornelius, the same two men who later built the Slag Furnace (400 block of West Spring St.) and the Old Rock School (914 N Bequette St). Today Dodgeville is the mercantile center for Iowa County, and a significant portion of southwest Wisconsin, benefiting from a balanced economy that blends industry, agriculture, and tourism. This cross-section drawing depicts what "Dodge's Diggings" and other early Wisconsin lead mining operations looked like. From the Wisconsin Historical Society



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