<div>From a restaurant known for its Friday night fish fries to a steamboat-turned-museum along the Mississippi River, Winona has a long history of places that hold strong memories for the people who experienced them. Some of those places are still familiar landmarks. Others have disappeared, leaving behind old photographs, stories, and a sense of curiosity among younger residents who never had the chance to visit them.For Jennifer Weaver, an educator with the Winona County Historical Society, looking back at those locations offers a glimpse into the community’s past. “I think part of it is the experience, and the food was really good too, but just that quirky experience,” Weaver said of the former Hot Fish Shop. “It was just kind of a cool, cool place to go gather and go out to eat.” Joe Hughes, a resident of Winona and local history buff, traced the restaurant's beginnings to Henry Kowalewski, who opened the original Hot Fish Shop in 1931 during the Great Depression. The restaurant initially served a simple menu of fish and coleslaw. When the property was needed for construction of the new Washington-Kosciusko School in the 1930s, the restaurant moved to land Kowalewski owned near Highway 61 and Mankato Avenue. The location is now the site of the Dairy Queen.Hughes said the restaurant became a popular destination, eventually drawing customers from throughout the area. The Hot Fish Shop became known for its fish dinners, tartar sauce, and distinctive atmosphere. It closed in 1999, but residents continue to talk about it decades later.“It was a special place to go,” Hughes said. While the fish shop is one of Winona’s most well known landmarks, the toboggan slide may have been one of the most unusual. The large slide once ran down the bluffs below Garvin Heights and sent riders down toward the frozen surface of Lake Winona, where they could continue gliding across the ice on their toboggans. “You’d slide down, and slide onto the frozen lake, and see how far you’d go,” Weaver said.Hughes learned about the attraction through his grandmother, who told him stories about it when he was a child. He said it was dismantled during the Great Depression in the 1930s, when the city could no longer afford to maintain it. His grandmother described the ride as an exciting experience, with the slide sending riders out onto the lake. “It was really grand,” Hughes recalled her telling him.For generations of Winona residents, summers meant spending time at Latsch Beach, where the Latsch Beach House provided a place to swim and enjoy the Mississippi River. The beach was made possible through gifts from businessman and philanthropist John A. Latsch, who donated land and resources for the public recreation along the river. Hughes said his father, who was born in 1929, often talked about walking across the High Bridge to spend the day swimming at Latsch Beach. He said that for five cents, swimmers could get a towel and a bar of soap to use in the bathhouse. They could then spend the day in the water before heading home. The beach even had a collection of water slides for riders to choose from. Although the beach house is gone now, the river remains part of Winona's recreation. “So we have a much cleaner river now. People are swimming again,” Weaver said. “It’d be great to have the Latsch Beach House back.”Another former riverfront landmark was the Wilkie, a boat that served as a museum and gathering place along the Mississippi River. According to Weaver, the Winona County Historical Society acquired the boat and brought it ashore around the 1950s, turning it into a museum dedicated to the area's river history. The boat was renamed the Wilkie and became a recognizable feature along the levee. When the original Wilkie burned down in 1983, a community group that wanted to preserve the landmark helped build a replacement, using some salvaged pieces from the original boat, including its bell. The second Wilkie served as a small museum and event space and housed a tourist information desk. The replacement eventually fell into disrepair and Weaver said interest and financial support faded, leaving the boat without the upkeep it needed. “It just kind of lost interest, money went elsewhere,” she said. The Wilkie closed in 2006 because of extensive rot and safety concerns and was demolished in 2008.Hughes remembered the Wilkie as a controversial landmark. Some residents appreciated its connection to Winona's steamboat history, while others felt it was more of a replica than an authentic steamboat. “If they didn't like it, people would call it the boat that don't float,” Hughes said. He said Winona should continue celebrating its steamboat history, even as individual landmarks disappear. Winona native Merle Hanson recalled how important steamboats once were to Winona's identity as a Mississippi River port, saying that more than 1,300 stopped in the city in 1856.Beside the river sat the former Winona water tower, another landmark that residents remember fondly. Hanson recalled that photographer Charles Tenney used the tower as a vantage point to photograph Winona over the years. According to Hanson, Tenney would climb the structure periodically to document how the city had grown and changed.Hughes shared a story about a neighbor whose mother was particularly upset when the tower was taken down. She reportedly tried to convince the Chamber of Commerce to save it. For Hughes it illustrated how seemingly ordinary structures could become meaningful symbols of Winona’s community. He said the tower represented an older version of Winona that residents still feel connected to, even if they never experienced it themselves. Located right near the water tower, was the High Bridge. Before the bridges that residents use today, Winona had an earlier high wagon bridge built in 1892 which was also how people traveled to Latsch Beach. The High Bridge was designed for horse-drawn wagons, and its approach was quite different from what drivers experience today. Hughes described a winding route that brought travelers up from Main Street toward Johnson Street before turning onto the bridge. The route made sense for wagons moving slowly, he said, but became less practical as automobiles and larger vehicles became more common. Weaver said the old bridge was taken out of service when the newer bridge opened in 1942. Winonan Paul Schollmeier said that remnants of the High Bridge’s stone supports can still be found around town. The High Bridge led individuals downtown where there was a plethora of restaurants, movie theaters, and unique shops to choose from, as Winona’s downtown area was the heart of the city. For many residents, Ruth's Restaurant downtown was more than somewhere to grab a meal. It was a place where people gathered to spend time together. Ruth Benning opened her restaurant in 1954, according to Hughes, after deciding she could run a business of her own. The restaurant quickly became popular for the affordable food and the ambiance. Hughes said that high school students often went downtown for lunch at Ruth's. He said there was even a group of young people who regularly skipped church on Sunday mornings to gather at Ruth's, calling themselves “Rutherans.” The restaurant also became a popular late-night destination. Hanson remembered that Ruth's was open around the clock and drew customers after the bars closed. “It was open 24 hours a day. So it had a nightlife,” he said.Hughes and Hanson have heard those memories firsthand while sharing local history at senior living communities and other gatherings in Winona. At one recent talk about Ruth's, Hughes said a woman arrived wearing a name tag from the restaurant. For Hanson, the personal stories show just how much the restaurant meant to the people who worked and ate there. He said Ruth's represented a time when downtown Winona was busy and people regularly gathered in the same places. “What we've lost in our generation is a sense of community that we [once] had,” Hanson said.Though the restaurants, steamboats, the beach house, the water tower, and the toboggan slide are no longer part of Winona today, their stories live on through conversations throughout generations. </div>

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From a restaurant known for its Friday night fish fries to a steamboat-turned-museum along the Mississippi River, Winona has a long history of places that hold strong memories for the people who experienced them. Some of those places are still familiar landmarks. Others have disappeared, leaving behind old photographs, stories, and a sense of curiosity among younger residents who never had the chance to visit them.

A look back at Winona landmarks

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From a restaurant known for its Friday night fish fries to a steamboat-turned-museum along the Mississippi River, Winona has a long history of places that 

A look back at Winona landmarks

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