Our Exhibitions
Museum Admission: $5 Adults, $3 Students, Free for WCHS members and children 7 and under.
Students doing research for a school project are free!
We are starting an exciting multi-year process of updating the main exhibit hall at the Winona County History Center. Some exhibit areas may be closed for these renovations and we thank you for your understanding. With three floors of exhibits and the Slaggie Family Lobby Art Gallery there is always something to explore during your visit.
Our Native American exhibit that is currently closed. Thank you for being patient with us as we work to reconsider how best to represent the regional history of Native peoples. Our exhibits committee has been spending time building relationships and seeking advice from descendants of those who trace their ancestry and cultural roots to this region.
Our Native American exhibit that is currently closed. Thank you for being patient with us as we work to reconsider how best to represent the regional history of Native peoples. Our exhibits committee has been spending time building relationships and seeking advice from descendants of those who trace their ancestry and cultural roots to this region.
The Winona County History Center is home to a wide variety of exhibits about our area's past that include local businesses, the lumber industry, architecture, early human life, native peoples, geology, stained glass, wartime, the arts, transportation, cultural heritage, the Mississippi River and more!
We also have the award-winning children's exhibit, Walking Through Time, that traces the human experience in Winona County, from early humans to Euro-American settlers through a reproduction cave, tipi and steamboat pilot house (ages 6+). Preschoolers love to explore The Cube, an interactive area with hands-on activities related to the exhibits found in the museum.
You can also explore Winona County history at home with our Virtual Visit portal:
We also have the award-winning children's exhibit, Walking Through Time, that traces the human experience in Winona County, from early humans to Euro-American settlers through a reproduction cave, tipi and steamboat pilot house (ages 6+). Preschoolers love to explore The Cube, an interactive area with hands-on activities related to the exhibits found in the museum.
You can also explore Winona County history at home with our Virtual Visit portal:
Collection Corridor
Winona In Panorama
The Collection Corridor on level B of the History Center showcases materials from our collections and the Laird Lucas Library and Archives.
In 1912 or 1913, an unidentified photographer captured the panoramic images featured in this exhibit on glass plate negatives measuring 8” x 20” - actual panoramas! High quality scans directly from these negatives produced huge images of Winona in HD clarity. Some of the prints on exhibit are eight feet long. In addition, explore a story map that focuses on the details of the places shown in an image of Winona's Levee Park and downtown in 1912.
The Collection Corridor on level B of the History Center showcases materials from our collections and the Laird Lucas Library and Archives.
In 1912 or 1913, an unidentified photographer captured the panoramic images featured in this exhibit on glass plate negatives measuring 8” x 20” - actual panoramas! High quality scans directly from these negatives produced huge images of Winona in HD clarity. Some of the prints on exhibit are eight feet long. In addition, explore a story map that focuses on the details of the places shown in an image of Winona's Levee Park and downtown in 1912.
Slaggie Family Lobby Art Gallery
In partnership with the River Arts Alliance, we welcome local art to this beautiful space of the History Center. Art shows are free! Regular museum admission applies to the main exhibits and archives.
See it at the History Center!
Women's Temperance Union Coffee Cart, c. 1900This unique bit of our past is a coffee cart that was used on the streets of Winona by members of the Women's Christian Temperance Union to sober up those stumbling out of the city's bars.
Rock Shelter ReproductionIn 1889, T.H. Lewis made 43 tracings of the glyphs, or drawings, which covered the walls and roof of LaMoille Cave; he observed that there were “more (petroglyphs) in this cave than have been found at any other point in the Mississippi valley.” The cave is reproduced within the Children's "Walking Through Time" exhibit.
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J.R. Watkins' Original Desk, 1868Its where it all started, The Watkins Company was founded by J.R. with a new formula for liniment, good for man or beast. Since starting in his kitchen, the company is still known internationally for its personal, kitchen and household products. Including Liniment.
"The Cube" offers hands-on fun for mini museum visitorsThe area has books, a light table, blocks, and more activities young museum visitors can enjoy. Also check out the family activities offered while you visit, including scavenger hunts and more!
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Our Other Museums
Along with our main museum, The Winona County History Center, we operate the Historic Bunnell House and The Rural Heritage Museum!
At the Bunnell House visitors take a step back to the 1850s. Willard Bunnell was up to no good and travelled west to escape a run in with the law over some silver coins. He was a trapper, fur trader, and strong willed man. His wife Matilda, who spoke French, Dakota and Ojibwa, soon followed. Their children moved on when they both died of tuberculosis about ten years later, and Willard's brother Lafayette moved in, who was quite the character himself. Come tour their unique steamboat gothic house and learn what life was like as canoes gave way to steamboats.
The Rural Heritage Museum examines rural life and the agricultural heritage of Winona County through exhibits about machinery, the farmhouse, chores, tools, pioneer spirit and ingenuity, plus more. Also tour the Hill Family log house, a log barn, and the Gainey-McCarthy Schoolhouse.
At the Bunnell House visitors take a step back to the 1850s. Willard Bunnell was up to no good and travelled west to escape a run in with the law over some silver coins. He was a trapper, fur trader, and strong willed man. His wife Matilda, who spoke French, Dakota and Ojibwa, soon followed. Their children moved on when they both died of tuberculosis about ten years later, and Willard's brother Lafayette moved in, who was quite the character himself. Come tour their unique steamboat gothic house and learn what life was like as canoes gave way to steamboats.
The Rural Heritage Museum examines rural life and the agricultural heritage of Winona County through exhibits about machinery, the farmhouse, chores, tools, pioneer spirit and ingenuity, plus more. Also tour the Hill Family log house, a log barn, and the Gainey-McCarthy Schoolhouse.