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Located in downtown Winona in the historic former National Guard Armory, the region’s largest museum presents the history of Winona County. Professionally constructed exhibits examine life in Winona. The encircling balcony gallery (once an exercise track) houses the “County Time-Line” exhibit, which begins with the area’s unique geologic formation and a superb collection of Native Americana. The exhibit surprises visitors with the unexpected: Winona’s rowdy past, a brief history of our sewers, and the Cold War parking plans to be used during nuclear war.
Their hands-on children’s exhibit, “Walking Though Time,” received an award from the American Association for State and Local History; children are invited to explore a cave, tepee and a river steamboat. Other main floor exhibits on industry, commerce and transportation.
The Museum Shop offers traditional handicrafts, large selection of books, toys of the past, old fashioned candy, and so on.
Winona, Minnesota, is a unique community. Located in the Mississippi River bluffs of Southeast Minnesota, its residents face north when they look across the river into Wisconsin. The area's first inhabitants were the Dakota (Sioux), Winnebago, Fox, Sauk, and Iowa Indians who arrived in this area between 1500 -1700 AD.
Winona as we know it today was first settled by white people in the 1850's. The first white settlers in Winona were typical of others settling in the Midwest at the time. They represented Yankee settlers moving westward and immigrants from Norway, Germany, England and other Western European countries eager to establish homes, farms, and businesses.
Winona's economy at this time was typical of many small cities in the late 1800's with an economy based on lumbering, the railroad, and the Mississippi River. Winona also became the site of the first normal school west of the Mississippi with the establishment of Winona Normal School (Now Winona State University) in 1858. This was the beginning of Winona's tradition as a center of higher education.
Later the population included a greater mix of ethnic groups as citizens of Poland, Prussia, and Ireland settled in Winona. Many of these later immigrants came to Winona to work in the already established business and also in the newer manufacturing businesses being established as Winona's economy began to become more representative of the industrial age. Black Americans recently freed during the civil war and Winona's first Jewish citizens settled began to settle in Winona during the 1870's.
Throughout the early part of the 20th century and up through the 1970's Winona's population and ethnic mix remained relatively stable. Persons of foreign background represented 72% of the city in 1880, but that figure declined to 69% in 1905. Although Winona is often known as a Polish community, citizens of German origin represent its largest ethnic population base. The Polish community, however, was more unified and recognizable because of its common religion and customs. Other ethnic groups also continued to be an important factor in Winona's social, economic, political and economic structure. Churches, schools, newspapers and neighborhoods were established along ethnic lines. Much of this is still evident today, although the ethnic divisions are less noticeable.
In the 1990's refugees from South East Asia, especially the Hmong, and Black Americans have settled in Winona. Like their predecessors, mostly of them came to establish a better home and lifestyle than they had in their previous homes. They have come not only for economic reasons, but also to be with other family members who have settled here and to escape problems in larger cities. Many of the Hmong living in Winona have moved from St. Paul and others are recent immigrants from South East Asia.
Winona's economy has changed along with its ethnic mix. The information highway has replaced the railroad and the Mississippi River as Winona's economic infrastructure. Manufacturing has switched from the manual, industrial age to the highly technical information age. Higher education continues to play an important role in the city's economic and social structure and is often what draws immigrants and diverse ethnic groups to Winona.
Times change, but immigrant experiences do not. Throughout the years immigrants and people of various immigrants have faced hardships. Many ethnic groups, no matter what culture they are associated with, often face discrimination, physical hardships, poverty, disappointment, and a sense of lonliness. Their arrival in a community can often make native-born people uncomfortable and sometimes hostile.
Yet, Winona is and remains a city of varying and changing ethnic groups. Birth place and the birth place of a person;'s parent have a significant impact on a person's perception of the world and how they interact in a society. Ethnic background has influenced the history of Winona.The contributions of all ethnic groups help to make Winona varied, interesting unique and the community it is today. Whether they are Norwegian Americans preserving culture through church suppers or Hmong telling their stories through tapestries, they are tied to each other through their culture and common experiences.
Winona today is not the city it was in 1900, 1950. It is not even the city it was in 1990. Winona is a growing and changing city; its diversity can enrich everyone's experience and knowledge.
Learn more about this city
City of WINONA, MN official site
City of WINONA, MN general information
City of WINONA, MN yellow pages
City of WINONA, MN newspaper
County of WINONA, MN official site