Arriving in Dodgeville in 1827, Henry Dodge began his Wisconsin career as a miner before later becoming renowned as a Black Hawk War military leader, territorial governor, and state senator. Around 1830, he established living quarters and a large two-furnace smelting and mining operation at this site, a few miles south of Dodgeville. Bringing his family, slaves, and about 200 miners to work there, Dodge constructed many log dwellings and a stockade that later became known as Fort Union during the Black Hawk War.