Mineral Point was settled in 1827, becoming a lead and zinc mining center, and commercial town in the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The city's well-preserved historical character within the varied natural topography of the driftless area has made it a regional tourist destination.

[7] During the following year, large quantities of galena, or lead ore, were discovered around the settlement in shallow deposits.

Lead had many uses at the time, and settlers began to flock to the region hoping to make a living by extracting the easily accessible mineral.

By 1829, the region's growing population led to the creation of Iowa County, which included all of the lead mining lands within the territory.

During the Black Hawk War of 1832, residents of Mineral Point built Fort Jackson to protect the town from a possible attack.

It displayed an arm holding a pickaxe over a pile of lead ore, demonstrating the importance of Mineral Point's early mining economy to the new territory.

Although the most easily accessible lead deposits on the surface were being exhausted by this time, new immigrants began to arrive with more refined techniques for extracting ore.

[10] The original dwellings of some of these early Cornish immigrants have been restored at the Pendarvis Historic Site in Mineral Point.

[14] An intense rivalry was harboured between the two towns, and a renewed election took place on April 2, 1861, during which a majority again voted to move the county seat to Dodgeville, where it remains today.

In 1897 Robert M. La Follette gave his "The danger threatening representative government" speech in Mineral Point.

[16] In the 1930s, a local resident, Robert Neal, together with his partner, Edgar Hellum, aimed to preserve some of the history of the Cornish miners' and settlers' stone structures.

Over the next decades, they bought and restored buildings, and turned one into a popular Cornish restaurant attracting tourists.

Much of the city is a historical district, including blocks of stone cottages and businesses crafted by the Cornish settlers in the 1800s.