Winona, Minnesota
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Winona is the county seat of Winona County6. As of the 2000 census, the city had a total population of 27,069. Located in picturesque bluff country on the Mississippi River, its most noticeable physical landmark is Sugar Loaf hill. Its annual celebration, "Steamboat Days," is held in the summer. It is home to the headquarters of the Watkins Corporation and Fastenal. Historically a community that was once served by a half-dozen passenger railroads, its current service is the once-daily Empire Builder, an Amtrak service between Chicago and Seattle/Portland.
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History
Evidence gathered by archaeologists tells us that people lived in this valley as early as 9500 B.C. The earliest evidence of human habitation in Winona County is based on the discovery of a Woodland tradition site (circa 800 B.C.-900 A.D.). Before its founding by white settlers, Winona was the home of a band of Dakota (Sioux) led by the great Wapasha dynasty. The local tribe was the Medawakantonwan. Their summer homes were made of bark supported by a framework and poles. Their winter residence was a teepee made of about 8 buffalo hides sewn together with deer sinew, typically about 12 feet (4 m) high and 10 to 12 feet (3 to 4 m) in diameter, with a fire in the middle to keep the temperature inside the dwelling tolerable even in the coldest weather.
Lieutenant Zebulon Pike left Fort Bellefontaine on August 9, 1805 with orders to find the source of the Mississippi. On September 14, 1805, he reached the Mississippi Valley near island number 72 (on his map), which would one day be Winona, Minnesota, and recorded his impressions in his log.
Less than fifty years later, Pike's island 72 was selected by Captain Orrin Smith as a townsite on the west bank of the Mississippi River. For over twenty-five years, Smith had sailed the river between Galena, Illinois and Fort Snelling, Minnesota as owner and pilot of the river packet Nominee. In 1851 Smith learned that the treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota would establish a reservation in the interior of the state, and realized that there would be a rush to develop townsites on the Minnesota side of the river. On October 15, 1851 Orrin Smith became the founder of Winona, by landing his ship's carpenter, Mr. Erwin Johnson, and two other men (Smith and Stevens) with the purpose of claiming title to riverfront and surrounding prairie land. When the town site was surveyed and plotted by John Ball, United States deputy surveyor, it was given the name of Montezuma as requested by Johnson and Smith. Henry D. Huff bought an interest in the town site in 1853. With the consent of Capt. Smith, Huff erased the name of Montezuma and inserted the name of Winona on the plot, a name derived from the Dakota Indian word We-No-Nah, which means "first-born daughter", in reference to the princess daughter of the previously mentioned Dakota chief Wapasha.
Winona was settled in 1851, and the town was laid out into lots in 1852-3. Its growth was very rapid. The population increased from 815 in December, 1855, to 3,000 in December, 1856. In 1860 Winona had a population of 2,456, and was third largest city in Minnesota until the late 1880s. Part of the surge in population in 1856 was the fact that land claims became legal in 1855 with the completion of land surveys and the opening of a local federal land office. It was incorporated as a city in 1857.
Growth in Winona was built on a railway and steamboat transportation system, wheat milling, and lumber. In 1856 over 1,300 steamboats stopped at Winona. The railway system grew and the Winona Railway Bridge, built of steel and iron with a steam-powered swingspan over the river, was the second railway bridge to span the Mississippi. The first train crossed on July 4, 1891 and the bridge served the Green Bay & Western (GBW) and Burlington Route for the next 94 years until it was closed in 1985 and dismantled in the fall of 1990. In 1892, a wagon toll-bridge over the Mississippi, a wooden high-bridge, was completed and remained in service until 1942.
During the 1860's southern Minnesota was the greatest wheat producing region in the country and Winona was the main port for shipping Minnesota wheat. By 1870, Winona was the fourth largest wheat shipping port in the United States. In 1899 Bay State Milling was founded, and is still in operation today. John Laird started the first lumber mill in 1855; he later was joined by his cousins James and Matthew Norton in founding the Laird-Norton Co. The Winona sawmills reached their peak production in 1892 when they produced over 160 million board feet (380,000 m³) annually and ranked eighth in production of lumber in the upper Midwest.
However, Winona was not able to completely absorb the collapse of the lumber industry as the Wisconsin white pine forests became depleted, even though the city had sought to expand its industrial base. In 1900 Winona population of 19,714 peaked and for the next few decades declined and remained unstable. Winona's pattern of growth had stopped. As of 2006, Winona's official population consists greatly of college students.
Education
Winona became the site of the first normal school west of the Mississippi in 1858 with the establishment of Winona Normal School (now Winona State University). This was the beginning of Winona's tradition as a center of higher education. In addition, St. Mary's College (now St. Mary's University) was founded as a private Catholic school in 1912. Later, as the necessary opportunity of higher education for women became apparent, the College of St. Teresa was created. After St. Mary's became co-ed, St. Teresa's closed down in 1978, and it's facilities are now used by Winona State, St. Mary's, Cotter High School, and the Valencia Performing Arts Academy. Minnesota State University - Southeast Technical additionally has a campus in Winona.
There is also a relatively diverse variety of K-12 educational opportunities. Run by Independent School District 861, the local public school system includes 7 elementary schools (4 in Winona), the Winona Middle School, and the Winona Senior High School. In addition, there is a large private Catholic school system, that includes an elementary school, St. Stan's Middle School, Cotter Junior High School, and Cotter Senior High School. Bluffview Montessori Charter School, located in Winona, was the first charter Montessori, and the second charter school overall in the United States. Finally, there are two private Lutheran K-8 schools, and Hope Lutheran High School.(www.hopelhs.org)
Arts
In addition to the arts brought to the community by the local educational institutes, Winona has two professional theater companies, the Great River Shakespeare Festival and the Theatre du Mississippi. Planned to be complete in the fall of 2006 is the Minnesota Marine Art Museum, which will encompass work by both international and local artists, a collection of photographs by the river engineer Henry Bosse, and an actual river dredge.
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 61.0 km² (23.6 mi²). 47.2 km² (18.2 mi²) of it is land and 13.8 km² (5.3 mi²) of it is water. The total area is 22.62% water.
Winona's primary "suburbs" are Goodview, Stockton, and Minnesota City to the west and Homer to the east. Rochester is 40 minutes west of Winona and La Crosse 30 minutes southeast.
Media
Winona has two newspapers: the Winona Daily News, a daily morning paper which is delivered every day, including Sundays; and the Winona Post, a bi-weekly paper that has mid-week and Sunday editions. Papers from the La Crosse, Rochester, and Twin Cities are also commonly read. There is one local public broadcast TV network, HBCI, however, it is only available to cable subscribers of the HBC cable company. Winona does receive TV signals from neighboring cities, including several channels each from La Crosse, Rochester, Eau Claire, and the Twin Cities, although exactly what can be received depends entirely on one's location in the area, as the extensive system of valleys and ridges may permit or block any or all signals. Local radio stations include:
| * KAGE 1380 AM, Winona | * KXLC 91.1 FM, La Crescent |
| * KAGE-FM 95.3 FM, Winona | * WCCO 830 AM, Minneapolis |
| * KCLH 94.7 FM, Caledonia | * WCTS 1030 AM, Maplewood |
| * KFAN 1130 AM, Minneapolis | * WFBZ 105.5 FM, Trempealeau |
| * KHME 101.1 FM, Winona | * WHLA 90.3 FM, La Crosse |
| * KQAL 89.5 FM, Winona | * WIZM 1410 AM, La Crosse |
| * KQEG 102.7 FM, La Crescent | * WIZM-FM 93.3 FM, La Crosse |
| * KQYB 98.3 FM, Spring Grove | * WKTY 580 AM, La Crosse |
| * KSMR 92.5 FM, Winona | * WLSU 88.9 FM, La Crosse |
| * KWNO 1230 AM, Winona | * WMEQ 880 AM, Menomonie |
| * KWNO-FM 99.3 FM, Rushford |
Demographics
As of the census2 of 2000, there were 27,069 people, 10,301 households, and 5,325 families residing in the city. The population density was 573.3/km² (1,485.0/mi²). There were 10,666 housing units at an average density of 225.9/km² (585.1/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 94.47% White, 1.13% African American, 0.23% Native American, 2.65% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.47% from other races, and 1.03% from two or more races. 1.35% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 10,301 households out of which 23.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 40.4% were married couples living together, 8.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 48.3% were non-families. 35.2% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.94.
In the city, the population was spread out with 18.0% under the age of 18, 27.5% from 18 to 24, 22.2% from 25 to 44, 18.0% from 45 to 64, and 14.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 29 years. For every 100 females there were 88.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 85.1 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $32,845, and the median income for a family was $48,413. Males had a median income of $31,047 versus $23,302 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,783. 17.3% of the population and 6.5% of families were below the poverty line. 11.5% of those under the age of 18 and 10.7% of those 65 and older were living below the poverty line.
Famous people from Winona
Winona is the birthplace of aviator Max Conrad. Winona Ryder, who was born in southeast Minnesota but not in Winona county, was named for the city.