winonahistory.org is getting a big update soon! Check back for more and a whole new activities calendar experience.
MINI MUSEUM VISITOR MONDAY Milking Time Long Ago April 29, 10:00 - 11:00 AM • History Center Family Rate: $10 (3-6 year olds + Adults) Preschool Group Rate: $50 (Preschoolers + Staff) Space is limited, please register in advance by calling 507.454.2723 ext. 0 by the Friday before. Explore the museum, hear a story, create a craft, and enjoy some time to play on this guided experience for little history buffs.
FUNDRAISER EVENT Swing into Spring Tour Event: Anniversary Adventure! Saturday, May 4 • 12:00 - 4:00 p.m. Tickets: $12 Members, $15 Public Join in the fun of the Winona County History Center’s Swing into Spring annual fundraiser! Swing into places celebrating anniversaries during this self-guided tour event. Tickets and maps will be available starting April 22 and through the day of the event at the History Center. Tour locations will have activities, special tours, storytelling, and more on May 4, 12:00 - 4 00 p.m.
The Swing into Spring: Anniversary Adventure includes: • Winona Public Library (125th) • Minnesota State College Southeast (75th) • Upper Mississippi River Refuge (100th) • Lake Park Bandshell (100th) • WNB Financial (150th) • Winona Athletic Club (125th) Explore the tour locations in any order, have fun partaking in activities at each, and collect at least four featured historical trivia facts along the way. Then, you can return the trivia portion of the map to the History Center by May 10 for a chance to win $100! Entries will be drawn at 10:00 a.m. May 10, and you need not be present to win.
Proudly Sponsored by:
Partners in History Program Bloedow Bakery Story May 16, 7:00 PM • Wanek Hall • Free Sandbar Storytelling Festival kicks off the local story series by celebrating Bloedow Bakery’s 100th Anniversary. Hear the story of how “Bloedow’s Little Bake Shop” on Broadway began, and how it has continued to be part of the community a century later. Known as Bloedow Bakery today, it has been locally owned and loved since 1924 and is an award-winning Bakery. It was voted one of the “50 Finest Donut Shops in America” by Saveur Magazine. Donuts, buns, rolls, other sweets, and breads are baked fresh daily using the same original recipes. Come and celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Bloedow Bakery and learn its history.
Mini Museum Visitor Monday River Adventures May 20, 10:00 - 11:00 AM • History Center Family Rate: $10 (3-6 year olds + Adults) Preschool Group Rate: $50 (Preschoolers + Staff)
Space is limited, please register in advance by calling 507.454.2723 ext. 0 by the Friday before.
Partners in History Program Peerless Chain Story June 6, 7:00 PM • Wanek Hall • Free
The Sandbar Storytelling Festival local story series features the story of the Peerless Chain Company. Peerless, located on Winona’s east end, has been in business since 1917. The company started making tire chains and eventually expanded to industrial and hardware chains. In the early 2000s, the company began buying major competitors and today it is the largest manufacturer and distributor of industrial and consumer chain in North America. The group sells chains for a wide variety of light and heavy uses, including marine, agriculture, industrial, forestry, and retail.
CONVERSATION HISTORY BOOK CHAT 12:00 PM • Briarcombe Room, History Center Book Chat is free and open to the public. Participate in great discussions about the themes in each month’s book. Held at the History Center. Discussions begin at 12:05 p.m. for about an hour.
April 24 The Story Keeper by Lisa Wingate May 22 Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier June 26 Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus.
HISTORY ON THE RIVER CRUISE SERIES Educational Cruises Celebrating Our Heritage
Experience the history, culture, arts, science, stories, music, and more that make Winona County, Minnesota so unique...on the Mississippi River.
Choose from two different cruise times in May, June, July, August and September. Each presentation will be offered during a 4:00 - 5:30 p.m. cruise and again for a 6:00 - 7:30 p.m. cruise. Also enjoy refreshments and the beautiful scenery of the Mississippi River.
Cost: 2024 Sales Start April 22 for WCHS Members and May 1 for the Public! Cruises can be purchased at the History Center or by calling 507.454.2723 ext. 0.
$35 each for WCHS members
$45 each for the public
Get a season pass for all five presentations (you choose your cruise times, until sold out):
$150 for members
$200 for the public
2024 Season Schedule May 30 • 4:00 – 5:30 and 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. “Musical Chairs” & Celebrating Over a Century of Municipal Music with Ruth Bures & Clarinet Quartet The City of Winona built a bandshell in the Classical Revival style in Lake Park near the north shore of Lake Winona in 1924. A century later it still is host to concerts by the Winona Municipal Band and others. In celebration, band member, Ruth Bures, has recently published, “Musical Chairs” a book chronicling the story ofband director Orville Reese. Also, enjoy some live music!
June 27 • 4:00 – 5:30 and 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Steamboats on a Smaller Scale with Frederick Beseler Frederick Beseler, who grew up along the banks of the mighty Mississippi River in Trempealeau, Wisconsin, will talk about the numerous steamboat models that he restored for WCHS about 10 years ago. The models were built in the 1940s and ‘50s by Jacob Mathias of Wabasha, Minnesota. Frederick will talk about Mr. Mathias and how he built the models, as well as Frederick’s restoration process. He will also provide a history of each of the real steamboats that were frequently seen along the Mississippi and at Winona’s levee 100 years and more ago.
July 25 • 4:00 – 5:30 and 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Live Music with Stacy Hughes Stacy Hughes is a singer/songwriter who has been performing for over 30 years. She brings her beautiful voice aboard for some great music on the river.
August 29 • 4:00 – 5:30 and 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. The First 100 Years of the “Upper Miss” River Refuge with Jim Nissen Established in 1924 to be a refuge for fish, wildlife and plants and a breeding place for migratory birds, Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge now covers more than 240,000 acres and extends roughly 261 miles of the Mississippi River across four states: Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa.
September 19 • 4:00 – 5:30 and 6:00 – 7:30 p.m. Hannibal’s Invisibles with G. Faye Dant & Art of the Rural G. Faye Dant is the Founding Director of Jim’s Journey: The Huck Finn Freedom Center, the only Black history museum in northeastern Missouri. She is the author of the soon-to-be-published, “Hannibal’s Invisibles,” a collection of decidedly universal stories in a coffee table book that chronicles with vintage photographs the life of local Colored faces and Colored places.
General Cruise Information:
Cruises are aboard The Cal Fremling. This two level vessel has an accessible enclosed main deck with a restroom. The Cal Fleming is docked at the foot of Johnson Street at the Winona Levee.
Parking is available on Cal Fremling Drive (enter at Walnut Street) and off Johnson Street.
Boarding begins 15 minutes prior to cruise time. Cruises leave on time!
Cruises are non-refundable unless canceled by the captain or WCHS. We will go in rain. Flooding also rarely affects cruises. If Cal Fremling Drive is closed The Cal Fremling dock is accessible from Johnson Street.
This lecture is co-sponsored by the All-University Arboretum and Land Stewardship Committee as part of the 8th Annual Arbor Day celebration and WSU’s “Tree-Campus USA” recognition.
The Ecological History Lecture Series, March 23 – April 21, 2021, is made possible in part by the people of Minnesota through a grant funded by an appropriation to the Minnesota Historical Society from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund. We thank the generosity of the people of Minnesota. The webinar series is open and free to the public.