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.