Winona County is the named for Winona, a female cousin of Wabasha, who was the last of three successive chiefs of the Mississippi band of Dakota with that name, and Winona in the Dakota language, means “first born female”.
Created: February 23, 1854
County Seat:
Winona 1854 – present
County Courthouse – Winona
Location: 171 West Third Street / Washington Street
Built: 1887 – 1888
Style: Richardsonian Romanesque
Architect: Charles G Maybury & Son and James A Tawney
Contractor: Charles Bulter of Winona
Description: The building faces west and is a three story sandstone structure. The building is located on landscaped grounds in the center of the city. The building displays Victorian variety in its two unmatched towers, in the contrast between the Desbach buff sandstone of its three stories and the Lake Superior brownstone trim, in the cut stone and in its carvings. The building has walls of solid brick and stone, wood joists and iron lath in the floors, plus two inches of concrete. It also has a galvanized iron cornice, French glass windows with stained glass transoms, black slate for the roof, copper flashings and gutters, terra cotta crestings and finials, and Cleveland blue colored sandstone steps. The main hall has heavy carved red colored oak woodwork and four and five foot wainscoting. Each room has a 16 foot ceiling and a fireplace with carved wood mantel and tile. The courtrooms are located on the third and fourth stories. The building was remodeled in 1973 making the building five floors and in 1981 for roof repairs. In 2000, water damage destroyed the interior and in 2003, the building was repaired to its original condition. The architect was Boarman Kroos Vogel Group Inc. and the contractor was Construction Analysis & Management, Inc.
Note: The first courthouse was built in 1862 at Third Street and Washington Street in Winona. The second and present courthouse was constructed in 1889 at a cost of $120,000.
Courthouses:
N – Wabasha County and Buffalo County , Wisconsin
E – Trempealeau County, Wisconsin and La Crosse County, Wisconsin
S – Houston County and Fillmore County
W – Olmsted County and Wabasha County
County Courthouse
Photos taken 2007, 2010 and 2019