Museum Guide News
The City and County are both rich in tradition and history!
Winona County History Center: Come curious, leave inspired.
Nestled in the Minnesota Driftless region, the Winona County History Center is your chance to go behind-the-scenes with Winona County history. From the famous to the unsung, the people who lived, worked, and dreamed here helped shape this remarkable place you see today. Explore the museum at your own pace for your own unique meet-up with history!
Current Exhibits
Discover The River Gallery, a new exhibit that takes you on a centuries-long journey alongside the Mississippi River and the people who live near it and on it. Inland seas, limestone bluffs, boathouse dwellers, Indigenous communities, conservationists, and industry-builders all intersect in this Winona County river story.
The Joy of the Arts celebrates over 100 years of municipal music, and you’re sure to leave this exhibit with your toes tapping. The current exhibit features the Winona Lake Park Bandshell. One of the last of its kind, the iconic structure in the city’s public lakeside park hosted musical sensations across the years and is still a popular concert site to this day.
Landscape, wealth, and well-known architects collide in an exhibit called Stories & Structures: How Buildings Tell Us About Ourselves. From school to bank to mansion, each building has a story to tell. You’ll find out how some of the iconic structures in Winona County came to be, and what those buildings tell us about the builders and those who use and preserve them.
Coming Soon
A brand new Children’s Exhibit is coming soon to the Winona County History Center, making the museum a perfect place for people of all ages to play and participate in a bigger story. The upcoming Dakota History Exhibit will bring a fresh, honest perspective on the enduring relationship between local Dakota people and the place you know as Winona County. Exhibits on makers and inventors, veterans, homefront heroes, criminals, and crises will give you an insider view of the complex faces of the county.
Additional Attractions
Are you a museum speed-reader waiting for friends to catch up? Make yourself comfortable in the free Slaggie Family Lobby area. Refresh your soul with art exhibitions from regional creators or stroll through The Museum Shop for a piece of take-home history. Consider a stop at the information desk to make an appointment in the research archives, or set aside a time to record an oral history with a trained Winona County Historical Society interviewer.
No matter what you choose to do, you’ll leave the Winona County History Center with a new perspective on history! We look forward to welcoming you back again.
Hours: Open Daily 10am – 4pm
Phone: 507-454-2723
Website: winonahistory.org
Address:
Winona County History Center
