Museum Admission $5 Adults, $3 Students, Free for WCHS members and children 7 and under.
Students doing research independently for a school project are free!
The Winona County History Center is home to a wide variety of exhibits about our area's past that include wartime, businesses, the lumber industry, architecture, the Dakota and early human life, geology, stained glass, the river and more! We also have the award-winning children's exhibit, Walking Through Time, that traces the human experience in Winona County, from cave dwellers, the Dakota to pioneer settlers, through a reproduction cave, tipi and steamboat pilot house to explore. Along with the museum's permanent exhibits we offer a rotating exhibit schedule annually. Here is the 2018 line up...
Rooted In The Land: Minnesota Women Farmers, Now - June 10
Local artist Julie Johnston has been traveling the region painting and interviewing women in the agricultural industries of our area. Meet these fascinating ladies through Julie’s work and also get a look into how the roles of women have changed on the farm over the decades.
The Art of Fine Furniture, June 16- August 10
Founded in 2013 The Art of Fine Furniture is an annual exhibit featuring the creations of professional and hobbyist studio furniture makers with our community curator Jamie Schell. TAOFF also offers free educational and inspirational workshops and discussions to encourage professionals and aspiring amateurs alike to think deeper about the works they create and to push themselves to create new extraordinary works. TAOFF is made up of pieces of studio furniture that invite, and excite ones curiosity to explore the inner mysteries and workings of the pieces in the exhibit and the time honored skills kept alive with each piece.
Brewing up the Past: History of Winona’s Beer Industry, August 16 - January 20, 2019
Cheers! This historic skill is taking on a whole new life and we are excited to share the story of brewing’s history in Winona County!
Local artist Julie Johnston has been traveling the region painting and interviewing women in the agricultural industries of our area. Meet these fascinating ladies through Julie’s work and also get a look into how the roles of women have changed on the farm over the decades.
The Art of Fine Furniture, June 16- August 10
Founded in 2013 The Art of Fine Furniture is an annual exhibit featuring the creations of professional and hobbyist studio furniture makers with our community curator Jamie Schell. TAOFF also offers free educational and inspirational workshops and discussions to encourage professionals and aspiring amateurs alike to think deeper about the works they create and to push themselves to create new extraordinary works. TAOFF is made up of pieces of studio furniture that invite, and excite ones curiosity to explore the inner mysteries and workings of the pieces in the exhibit and the time honored skills kept alive with each piece.
Brewing up the Past: History of Winona’s Beer Industry, August 16 - January 20, 2019
Cheers! This historic skill is taking on a whole new life and we are excited to share the story of brewing’s history in Winona County!
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 ReproductionThe earliest evidence of humans living in Winona County is based on the discovery of a Woodland tradition site (circa 800 B.C.- 900 A.D.) known as the La Moille Rock Shelter south of the city of Winona on the Mississippi River.
This is a replica of that site. In 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.” |
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.
Light of Learning Mural Studies, by Kenyon Cox, 1910The Winona Public Library, just a block away from the History Center, is home to a mural entitled, The Light of Learning. It was created by Kenyon Cox, the famous artist also responsible for many works in government buildings including the Minnesota State Capitol, and the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. Several of his original studies are part of an exhibit showcasing our library's history.
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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!
The Bunnell House is open summers and visitors take a step back to the 1850s when touring the fully furnished home of Winona's first permanent Euro-American settlers, the Bunnells. Willard 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. Not a dainty housewife, Matilda could also held her own in the wild frontier. 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 the life of the rural pioneers and agricultural heritage of Winona County through exhibits about machinery, the farmhouse, chores, tools, pioneer spirit and ingenuity, plus more. Also tour the Hill Sisters' log house, a log barn, and the McCarthy-Gainey Schoolhouse.
The Bunnell House is open summers and visitors take a step back to the 1850s when touring the fully furnished home of Winona's first permanent Euro-American settlers, the Bunnells. Willard 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. Not a dainty housewife, Matilda could also held her own in the wild frontier. 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 the life of the rural pioneers and agricultural heritage of Winona County through exhibits about machinery, the farmhouse, chores, tools, pioneer spirit and ingenuity, plus more. Also tour the Hill Sisters' log house, a log barn, and the McCarthy-Gainey Schoolhouse.