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Winona County History Center
Operated by the Winona County Historical Society, the History Center has three levels of traveling and permanent exhibits, including award-winning children’s interactive exhibits, trace Winona’s history . One of the finest local archives in Minnesota, the Laird Lucas Memorial Library researches family records for those with local ancestors.
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Winona National Register Historic Districts
The Winona Downtown Commercial Historic District contains over one hundred sites listed on the National Register of Historic Places. This…
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Winona State University Garden & Monument Tour
Over 125 acres of campus and nearby forested bluffs make up the Landscape Arboretum at Winona State University. The Arboretum…
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WNB Financial
The imposing structure at 204 Main Street was designed by prominent architect George Maher of Chicago, who also designed the…
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Woodlawn Cemetery
The historic Woodlawn Cemetery Association The first attempt to establish a public cemetery for the city of Winona was made…
Winona’s Natural Abundance
Winona, Minnesota is a place shaped by nature—and it shows. Nestled along a dramatic bend of the Mississippi River, Winona sits within the Driftless Region, a rare pocket of the Midwest untouched by glaciers. While much of North America was flattened by ice, this area was left gloriously rugged. Ancient meltwater carved the Mississippi River Valley hundreds of feet below the surrounding landscape, creating the towering bluffs that frame the city today. Here, the river curves west to east, with Wisconsin just across the water, delivering sweeping views, striking scenery, and a setting unlike anywhere else in the state.
Millennia of History
For thousands of years, Native Americans prized the fertile Mississippi River Valley for its abundant fishing and wildlife, protective hardwood forests, and temperate climate. Winona’s storied past as a Native American home centers on the tribe of Dakota Indians led by a succession of Chiefs Wapasha.
This city and county derived their names from “Winuŋna” (wee-NEW-nuh), a Dakota descriptive word meaning “first-born who is a daughter.” Over the centuries, writers recorded the name as Wenonah, Weenona, and Wynona. Others called this area “Wabasha’s Prairie,” “The Island City,” or “Wing Prairie.”
The trail of names and spellings hints that this place along the Mississippi River means many different things to many different people. We invite you to discover what it means to you.
From river settlement to regional hub
With the signing of the Treaty of Mendota forcing the Dakota out, Winona was resettled in 1851 by Euro-American settlers, with immigrants soon arriving in search of opportunity and a better life. By 1856, Winona had become a bustling river town, welcoming nearly 1,300 steamboats each year. Just a few years later, in 1860, the population reached 2,456, and growth surged from there. Within the next decade, Winona ranked as the fourth-largest milled wheat port in the nation and the eighth-largest lumber port in the Midwest. The city even held the title of Minnesota’s third-largest city until the late 1880s. By the early 1900s, population growth leveled off, settling into the vibrant community of about 27,000 people that calls Winona home today.
Lumber and wheat once powered Winona’s rise, building both its economy and its iconic landscape. While the mills moved west, Winona evolved—diversifying, adapting, and thriving. Today, the city shines as a destination known for its stunning architecture, dramatic natural scenery, vibrant arts scene, beautiful parks, rich historic character, diverse local businesses, and strong educational institutions, offering visitors a place where heritage and creativity live side by side.
Gateway to the West:
Winona's History
When the first riverboat captains traveled up the Mississippi River searching for new frontiers, they found Winona as an expansive sandbar prairie in the midst of the river, labeled only as Island 72. In 1851, Captain Orrin Smith created the first white settlement here, referring to this place as Wapasha’s Prairie after the Dakota chief leading its resident tribe, and droves of pioneers stepped off of boats to stake land claims.
