Winona County, Minnesota

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Winona County, Minnesota
Location in the state of Minnesota
Minnesota's location in the U.S.
Founded	February 23, 1854 [1]
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.
Seat	Winona
Largest city	Winona
Area  - Total  - Land  - Water	641.59 sq mi (1,662 km²) 626.30 sq mi (1,622 km²) 15.29 sq mi (40 km²), 2.38%
Population  - (2020)  - Density	49,671 80/sq mi (31/km²)
Time zone	Central: UTC-6/-5
Website	www.co.winona.mn.us

Winona County is a county located in the U.S. state of Minnesota. As of 2020, the population was 49,671. Its county seat is Winona.

History

Maiden Rock, from which legend has it the Dakota maiden called Winona leapt to her doom.

The name of the county is said to derive from a Dakota legend regarding a woman, referred to Winona, who was betrothed to marry a warrior whom she did not love. Rather than marry him, she is said to have leapt to her death from a rock now called "Maiden's Rock" on Lake Pepin. This legend is colloquially referred to as the Princess Winona legend.

File:Winonatownshipsmap.gif

Geography

According to the 2000 census, the county has a total area of 641.59 square miles (1,661.7 km²), of which 626.30 square miles (1,622.1 km²) (or 97.62%) is land and 15.29 square miles (39.6 km²) (or 2.38%) is water.

Bodies of water

• Airport Lake - Winona
• Bartlet Lake - Winona
• Bollers Lake - Goodview
• Hunters Lake - Winona
• Lake Goodview - Goodview
• Lake Winona - Winona
• Rileys Lake - vast majority in Winona, west edge in Goodview
• Mississippi River - forms county's eastern border with Wisconsin
• Whitewater River - flows northeast from the western side of the county

Major Highways

• Interstate 90
• U.S. Route 14
• U.S. Route 61
• Minnesota State Highway 43
• Minnesota State Highway 74
• Minnesota State Highway 76
• Minnesota State Highway 248

Public Airports

• Winona Municipal Airport - Max Conrad Field

Adjacent Counties

• Wabasha County (northwest)
• Buffalo County, Wisconsin (north)
• Trempealeau County, Wisconsin (northeast)
• La Crosse County, Wisconsin (east)
• Houston County (south)
• Fillmore County (southwest)
• Olmsted County (west)

National protected area

• Upper Mississippi River National Wildlife and Fish Refuge (part)

Demographics

Historical populations
Census	Pop.		%±
1860	9,208		—
1870	22,319		142.4%
1880	27,107		21.5%
1890	33,797		24.7%
1900	35,686		5.6%
1910	33,398		−6.4%
1920	33,653		0.8%
1930	35,144		4.4%
1940	37,795		7.5%
1950	39,841		5.4%
1960	40,937		2.8%
1970	44,409		8.5%
1980	46,256		4.2%
1990	47,828		3.4%
2000	49,985		4.5%
2010	51,461		3.0%
U.S. Decennial Census

Age pyramid of county residents based on 2000 U.S. census data.

As of the census of 2000, there were 49,985 people, 18,744 households, and 11,696 families residing in the county. The population density was 80 people per square mile (31/km²). There were 19,551 housing units at an average density of 31 per square mile (12/km²). The racial makeup of the county was 95.80% White, 0.77% Black or African American, 0.19% Native American, 1.87% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.53% from other races, and 0.81% from two or more races. 1.37% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 41.8% were of German, 13.9% Norwegian, 9.9% Polish and 7.4% Irish ancestry according to Census 2000.

There were 18,744 households out of which 30.20% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.30% were married couples living together, 7.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.60% were non-families. 28.20% of all households were made up of individuals and 10.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.04.

In the county the population was spread out with 22.80% under the age of 18, 18.60% from 18 to 24, 25.10% from 25 to 44, 20.50% from 45 to 64, and 13.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 95.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.80 males.

The median income for a household in the county was $38,700, and the median income for a family was $49,845. Males had a median income of $31,926 versus $23,406 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,077. About 5.60% of families and 12.00% of the population were below the poverty line, including 9.80% of those under age 18 and 9.30% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Winona County voters tend to vote Democratic. Since 1960 the county selected the Democratic Party candidate in 64% of national elections (as of 2020).

United States presidential election results for Winona County, Minnesota

Year	Republican		Democratic		Third party
	No.	%	No.	%	No.	%
2020	13,227	48.68%	13,333	49.07%	613	2.26%
2016	12,122	46.49%	11,366	43.59%	2,586	9.92%
2012	11,480	42.16%	14,980	55.01%	772	2.83%
2008	10,975	39.29%	16,308	58.38%	652	2.33%
2004	12,686	46.26%	14,231	51.90%	505	1.84%
2000	10,773	45.04%	11,069	46.28%	2,076	8.68%
1996	7,955	36.80%	10,272	47.52%	3,389	15.68%
1992	8,585	35.02%	9,707	39.59%	6,226	25.39%
1988	11,012	50.92%	10,310	47.68%	302	1.40%
1984	11,981	55.03%	9,577	43.99%	212	0.97%
1980	10,332	45.11%	9,814	42.85%	2,757	12.04%
1976	10,436	47.62%	10,939	49.92%	539	2.46%
1972	10,910	56.45%	8,080	41.81%	337	1.74%
1968	7,998	45.85%	8,627	49.46%	818	4.69%
1964	6,345	35.71%	11,397	64.14%	28	0.16%
1960	9,271	52.14%	8,484	47.72%	25	0.14%
1956	9,743	61.30%	6,048	38.05%	102	0.64%
1952	10,723	64.51%	5,834	35.10%	64	0.39%
1948	6,880	44.93%	8,281	54.08%	152	0.99%
1944	8,296	57.19%	6,117	42.17%	93	0.64%
1940	9,599	56.83%	7,187	42.55%	105	0.62%
1936	5,353	34.42%	9,268	59.60%	930	5.98%
1932	4,751	35.70%	8,305	62.41%	252	1.89%
1928	7,459	53.16%	6,484	46.21%	88	0.63%
1924	5,670	43.53%	1,111	8.53%	6,245	47.94%
1920	7,888	69.81%	2,896	25.63%	516	4.57%
1916	2,916	47.94%	2,907	47.80%	259	4.26%
1912	1,042	16.54%	3,004	47.68%	2,254	35.78%
1908	3,014	48.23%	3,072	49.16%	163	2.61%
1904	3,734	61.22%	2,063	33.83%	302	4.95%
1900	3,305	47.35%	3,436	49.23%	239	3.42%
1896	3,935	51.51%	3,528	46.18%	176	2.30%
1892	2,734	39.95%	3,701	54.08%	409	5.98%

Winona County is represented in the Minnesota House of Representatives by Steve Drazkowski and Gene Pelowski. Jeremy Miller represents it in the Minnesota Senate. Winona County is in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District, represented by Jim Hagedorn. There are five commissioners on the Winona County Board.

Communities

Cities	Townships		Unincorporated
Altura Dakota Elba Goodview La Crescent † Lewiston Minneiska ‡ Minnesota City Rollingstone St. Charles Stockton Utica Winona	Dresbach Elba Fremont Hart Hillsdale Homer Mount Vernon New Hartford Norton Pleasant Hill	Richmond Rollingstone Saratoga St. Charles Utica Warren Whitewater Wilson Wiscoy	Ashton Beaver Bethany Centerville Clyde Donehower Enterprise Fremont Grover Homer	Nodine Pickwick Pine Creek Ridgeway Saratoga Troy Whitewater Falls Wilson Witoka Wyattville

† La Crescent is in Houston County but extends into Winona County.
‡ Minneiska is located in both Winona County and Wabasha County.

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Winona County, Minnesota

Further reading

• DeLorme's Minnesota Atlas and Gazetteer (ISBN 0-89933-333-8)

External links

• Winona County
• Winona County Health and Demographic Data