Winona, Minnesota

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The city was originally named Montezuma by the early settlers, which was eventually changed to Winona. The name Winona is believed to have come from the Dakota Indian word We-No-Nah, which meant "eldest daughter." Indian legend tells that   We-No-Nah leaped to her death when she was denied marriage to a brave she loved.

Father Louis Hennepin was first credited with exploring the area in 1680, and French fur traders trekked the region until 1803 when it became a part of the United States' Louisiana Purchase. Winona founded in1851, by Steamboat Captain Orrin Smith,  Erwin Johnson, and Caleb Nash, who were the first men to stake out land claims. Within just a couple years the population grew to 300 people with many settlers coming from the east and immigrants from Europe traveling up the Mississippi. Winona was the last source of supplies before heading west to establish new homes and farms.

Because the Mississippi brought great wealth to Winona early, its commercial and
residential buildings are of an lavish style uncommon in Minnesota. Many also boast magnificent interiors and stained glass windows made by Tiffany and other famous studios. Writers have called Winona the "Stained Glass Capital of the United States.

Wheat became the money crop and by the 1860s the nation's wheat belt was in the Upper Midwest. In 1862, the Winona and St. Peter Railroad was constructed west from Winona to improve access to the river for grain shipments . This became part of the Chicago and Northwestern Railroad.

Even though the railroad expansion eliminated much of the passenger steamboat, river traffic continued to increase as towboats pulled giant rafts of lumber from northern Wisconsin forests to Winona and beyond. Between 1870 and 1900, Winona was one of the major timber processing and marketing centers in the nation. Winona was one of Minnesota's busiest steamboat landings during the nineteenth century and by 1900 was among the world's wealthiest cites.

Winona has the distinction of having the first state normal school or teacher's training school west of the Mississippi River. The school is now part of Winona State University.

For more information, Contact:
Winona Convention and Visitors Bureau
67 Main St.
P.O. Box 870
Winona, MN 55987-0870
507-452-2272
800-657-4972

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