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History · Winona

Winona’s post office opened in 1888, and 12% of its homes were built before 1940

1 place in town is on the National Register, among them a historic district with 4 buildings. Below: 2 old photos and papers from 1958 on.

1888first post office
1on the National Register
12%homes built before 1940
2old photos & papers
Add an old photoShare a memory
From Winona’s archive · credits on each photo
Quick answers

How Winona began

When was Winona founded?

1888

The Winona post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name.

2020 census: 950138 years
Founding year: the first Winona post office (Blevins & Helbock, CC0).The full story ↓

What stands out about Winona’s past

Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.

A history waiting to be writtenOnly 2 old photos are in the public archives. The rest are in attics and albums.
★ What stands out · Help out

Start Winona’s collection

The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Winona’s history is told.

Decades since 1900 with photos
00s10s20s30s40s50s60s70s80s90s
1 of 10 decades. The empty ones are waiting for someone’s album.
Retake an old viewPhotograph of a Forest Service Scaler U…: stand where they stood+15Share a family photoSign in to add one+10
The story

How Winona came to be

From Wikipedia’s history of Winona.

Read it all →

A post office called Winona has been in operation since 1888. The community was named after Winona, Minnesota, the native home of an area lumberman. The name is also a Sioux word meaning 'first born.'

Text from Wikipedia, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.

Timeline

Winona, 1888 to 1958

Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.

  1. 19th century
  2. 1888Post officeThe Winona post office opens
  3. 20th century
  4. 1938BuiltWinona Ranger Station Historic District is built
  5. 1958In the archivePhotograph of a Forest Service Scaler Using a Random Selection in Sample Scaling at Cloud…
By decade

Winona, decade by decade

One decade in the archive so far: the 1950s. Scroll each row; tap a photo for its story.

1950s2 items
Photograph of a Forest Service Scaler Using a Random Selection in Sample Scaling at Cloud Oak Flooring Company at1958Photograph of a Forest Service Scaler Using a Random …Photograph of a Forest Service Scaler Using a Random Selection in Sample Scaling at Cloud Oak Flooring Company at1958Photograph of a Forest Service Scaler Using a Random …
1960s–1990snothing yet
Nothing in the archives for these yearsWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Add from your album
Today3 recent
Winona-City-Hall-mo2021Winona-City-Hall-moWinona-Ash-Street-mo2021Winona-Ash-Street-moWinona-2nd-Street-mo2021Winona-2nd-Street-mo
Then & now

Stand where they stood

No then-and-now pairs yet. Take a photo from the same spot as an old one and they appear here side by side.

Photograph of a Forest Service Scaler Using a Random Selection in Sample Scaling at Cloud Oak Flooring Company at
Retake this viewPhotograph of a Forest Service Scaler Using a Random Selection in Sample Scaling at Cloud Oak Flooring Company at, 1958

Find the spot, match the angle, and add your photo. It becomes the first then-and-now pair on Winona’s page.

Retake this view · +15
On the National Register

1 listing protects 4 historic buildings

The country’s official list of buildings and places worth saving.

place listed
1
National Historic Landmarks
0
none yet
historic buildings protected
4
each building in a district counts
first listed
2003
Winona Ranger Station Historic District
Winona Ranger Station Historic District, built 1938
Districts

Architectural styles listings

Colonial Revival1
All 1 listings
Winona Ranger Station Historic DistrictDistrict · listed 2003

National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places. Photos from Wikimedia Commons, credited on each place’s page.

Questions about Winona’s history

What year was Winona founded?

The Winona post office opened in 1888, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).

What is on the National Register in Winona?

One place: the Winona Ranger Station Historic District (listed 2003).

Memory lane

What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.

Town Square →
Start a conversation
Sources

Where this page comes from

Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →

From Wikimedia Commons (5), the National Register of Historic Places (1), Wikipedia, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.