In the 1820s, after reports of abundant lead in the area drew prospective miners with "lead fever" into southwestern Wisconsin, ore found just beneath the surface led miners to establish diggings and soon found Mineral Point. It quickly became the regional center for land sales and government, and in 1836 the Territory's first governor, Henry Dodge, was inaugurated there and served his first term from Mineral Point. Immigrant Cornish miners brought advanced hard-rock and deep mining skills and a distinctive stone building tradition to the area. The lead industry waned in the 1860s, but zinc mining developed in the 1880s and flourished into the early 20th century. After new technology slowed demand for lead and zinc, Mineral Point's industrial focus shifted to agriculture. The 1930s marked the beginning of Mineral Point's preservation movement, which expanded on a large scale in the 1960s when artists, crafts people, and preservationists began restoring many of the old mining town's limestone buildings. In 1971, Mineral Point was listed as Wisconsin's first historic district in the National Register of Historic Places.