Called the "Mound City" for its proximity to the Platte Mound, Platteville has played an important role in Southwest Wisconsin for over 175 years. Throughout the 1830s and 1840s, Platteville was a significant mining center in the Lead Region, mining, smelting, and shipping lead ore to market. The Platteville Academy was established in 1839 and was later replaced by the state's first Normal School, which opened its doors in 1866. Forty-two years later, in 1908, the Wisconsin Mining Trade School was established. Those two schools merged in 1959 and in 1971 became the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.