Dodgeville, Wisconsin

Dodgeville is a city in Iowa County, Wisconsin, United States. As of the 2010 Census, 4,698 people lived there. It is the largest city in Iowa county and the 9th largest city within the Madison metropolitan area. It is also the county seat of Iowa County. Dodgeville is part of the Madison Metropolitan Statistical Area. New London, Minnesota

Dodgeville is one of Wisconsin's oldest cities. It is the sixth oldest European settlement in the state. At one time, it was the largest city in Wisconsin.

The city is twinned with Oakham, Rutland, United Kingdom.

Geography
The city has a total area of 3.89 sqmi. All of it is land.

History
In 1827, Henry Dodge began what would become the city of Dodgeville. Dodge made a pact with the local Winnebago Indian leaders. The pact let him build a cabin and smelter. The first community was made up of three settlements: "Dodgeville", "Dirty Hollow" and "Minersville".

Dodgeville was named after Henry Dodge. It grew slowly during its early years. It became a village in the 1840s. Later a small "war" was fought with Mineral Point over which community should be the county seat of Iowa County. Mineral Point was the seat, but the people of Dodgeville felt they should be the county seat. It is said that people from Mineral Point fired a cannon at Dodgeville over this. Dodgeville eventually became the county seat. It is the site of the Iowa County seat in what is Wisconsin's oldest courthouse. Dodgeville then had its population grow very quickly. Many miners moved to the city from England. British and Cornish architecture can still be seen in the city today. Dodgeville became the largest city in Wisconsin. This did not last long. The amount of mining grew smaller. Because of this, quickly growing cities such as Milwaukee became larger than Dodgeville.

Government
The foundations for the Iowa County Courthouse were laid in 1859. This makes it the oldest continuously active courthouse in the state.

Notable people

 * Glenn A. Abbey, U.S. diplomat
 * Bill Dyke, former U.S. vice presidential candidate
 * Homer Fieldhouse, landscape architect
 * Archie Hahn, Gold medal Olympic sprinter in the 1904 and 1906 Olympics
 * Steve Hilgenberg, Wisconsin State Assembly
 * John "Weenie" Wilson, Hall of Fame football, basketball, and baseball coach

Other websites

 * Dodgeville Chamber of Commerce
 * Iowa County Historical Society