The Winona Baptist Church was founded on September 9, 1855.
Baptist influence began early in Winona and has ties to the Mississippi River. One of its founders, Pastor Edward Ely, arrived aboard the steamer “Nominee” at one o’clock in the morning on May 4th of 1852.
His arrival was a direct result of a meeting held in New York City in July of 1851. Mr. William Haddock, a New York printer, convinced a group of people to form the Western Farm and Village Association to establish a new frontier on the Mississippi River. The first two scouts that were sent ahead chose Minnesota City, as they believed it was on the main channel of the river. This was a mistake as the river was at flood stage during the summer of 1851 and had frozen over at that stage. They had skated up “Straight Slough”, which was not the main channel of the river, However, the association on July 11th of 1852 established a Baptist church in Minnesota City. This was the first church organized in what is now Winona County and was the first Protestant organization in Southern Minnesota. This church is still active today.
First Baptist is often referred to as the church with beautiful windows. The Wells Glass Company of Chicago, Illinois installed the windows when the church was built for a total cost of seven-hundred dollars. The windows have some unusual features. Many of the pieces are beveled, giving depth and three-dimensional affect and additional sparkle to the windows. Some pieces are faceted like gems in a ring. This also adds a three-dimensional affect and added luster. Contrary to many church windows there are not “religious” scenes in the windows. However, there are some flowers represented which have symbolic religious meanings.
Read more about their historic anniversary and story in this Winona Post article from 2005.
