The scenic falls and their shady glen became a popular destination, especially on hot summer days. Depictions of the falls by artists and photographers spread their fame across southern Minnesota. The first business to cater to visitors was the Minneinneopa Park Hotel, opening in 1858 on well-landscaped grounds east of the falls. Pioneering black artist Robert S. Duncanson toured Minnesota in September 1862 and made sketches of Minneopa Falls, upon which he based a painting later that year. 1862 also saw local stonemason Louis Seppmann begin construction on his stone windmill, on a hill a mile to the northwest. However the American Civil War and the Dakota War of 1862 greatly depressed travel for several years. The Minneinneopa Park Hotel closed in 1870 and served as a country home and then a dairy farm before burning down in 1906.