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Minnesota · Driftless Area · #750
Winona County, Minnesota
On the Mississippi River where the Driftless Area's dramatic bluffs rise 500 feet above the river valley in southeastern Minnesota, Winona is one of the most visually striking small cities in the upper Midwest - a river city whose Victorian commercial architecture, stained glass heritage, and bluff-top vistas make it one of Minnesota's most beautiful county seats.
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Office: Winona County Emergency Management – (507) 457-6500 | winonacounty.gov
Services: Alert system via MN Alert, Winona County Alert, and NOAA Weather Radio; FEMA Region 5. Winona County is a southeast Minnesota county (population ~50,000) on the Mississippi River bordering Wisconsin, facing severe winter storms and flooding along the Mississippi and Whitewater Rivers.
Roads & Utilities
ROADS & TRANSPORTATION
Roads: US-61 (the scenic Great River Road, north-south along the Mississippi through Winona), US-14 (east-west through Winona, connecting Rochester to the northwest and Wisconsin to the east), and I-90 accessible to the north; a bridge connects Winona to Wisconsin. Winona is about 110 miles southeast of St. Paul
Transit: Limited and primarily auto-dependent; Winona Transit and university shuttle systems serve local needs.
Services: The local economy centers on healthcare, higher education, and manufacturing; building and zoning permits are handled through the county courthouse.
Veterans Services
VETERANS SERVICES
County VSO: Winona County Veterans Services – Winona, MN 55987
Notes: Minneapolis VA Health Care System and the Rochester VA Community-Based Outpatient Clinic serve the county’s veteran population.
Libraries
LIBRARIES
System: Winona Public Library – Winona, MN 55987
Parks & Recreation
PARKS & RECREATION
Key Assets: Winona sits on a sand-bar island in the Mississippi River, giving the city a genuinely dramatic setting beneath towering limestone bluffs. Great River Bluffs State Park offers one of Minnesota’s finest bluff-top prairie landscapes with sweeping Mississippi River valley views, and Sugar Loaf, an iconic limestone pinnacle, is the city’s most recognizable natural landmark. Garvin Heights offers a well-known bluff-top overlook of the city, river, and Wisconsin bluffs beyond. Winona is home to Winona State University (roughly 7,000 students) and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota. The city’s Steamboat Era Museum preserves genuine local history from Winona’s 19th-century heyday as a major Mississippi River lumber-shipping port, and the J.R. Watkins Company, founded in Winona in 1868, became one of America’s best-known door-to-door product companies. Winona also has one of Minnesota’s more significant Polish-American communities, reflected in landmark churches such as St. Stanislaus
Notes: Winona’s island setting beneath dramatic Mississippi River bluffs, along with Sugar Loaf and Garvin Heights, gives the city a genuinely striking and well-documented natural setting.
GIS & Maps
GIS & MAPS
GIS Portal: Winona County GIS – accessible via winonacounty.gov/245/GIS, offering Parcel Search, Trails and Recreation, and E-911 mapping applications
Parcel Search: Winona County Assessor – Winona, MN 55987
Addressing/911: Coordinated through Winona County GIS/Emergency Management
Animal Services
ANIMAL SERVICES
Facility: Winona Area Humane Society – Winona, MN 55987, winonahumane.org
Services: Operating since 1992, this no-kill, appointment-based shelter provides adoption, surrender, and a pet food pantry for Winona and surrounding communities, funded entirely through donations and fees with no state or federal funding.
Environmental & Waste
ENVIRONMENTAL / WASTE MANAGEMENT
Environmental Complaints: Minnesota Pollution Control Agency – pca.state.mn.us
Notes: Mississippi River and Whitewater River watershed management, and bluff-country prairie and land management (including at Great River Bluffs State Park) are significant local environmental focus areas.
NOTES
Winona’s island setting beneath dramatic Mississippi River bluffs, along with Sugar Loaf and Garvin Heights, gives the city a genuinely striking and well-documented natural setting. All contact information above was sourced from official county, city, and shelter pages as of this writing; phone numbers and hours should be reconfirmed directly with the relevant office before a visit.
About Winona County
Winona County’s setting is genuinely extraordinary – the Mississippi River corridor through the Driftless Area, the region of the upper Midwest that escaped glaciation and retained its ancient river-cut bluffs and coulees, produces a landscape of dramatic vertical relief that is entirely unlike the flat till plains that dominate most of Minnesota. Winona’s Sugar Loaf bluff and the surrounding river valley and bluff terrain give the city a picturesque quality that visitors consistently remark on.
The city’s Victorian commercial district, built on the wealth of the nineteenth-century lumber trade that floated logs down the Mississippi from the northern forests, is one of the most intact in the upper Midwest. Winona’s extraordinary collection of art glass – including work by Charles Connick and other major practitioners of the American stained glass tradition – earned it the designation “Stained Glass Capital of the United States.” Winona State University and Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota together provide substantial higher education enrollment for a city of 26,000. Mayo Clinic Health System provides healthcare.
All Services
Browse every category and topic available for this county.
Minnesota assesses property at 100% of market value annually. Property owners may appeal to the County Board of Appeal and Equalization by April 30. Minnesota has an estate tax above $3 million; no Minnesota inheritance tax. For Winona County farm families, the Minnesota estate tax can be reached when combining farmland value, equipment, retirement accounts, and life insurance – agricultural succession planning with a Minnesota attorney specializing in farm estates is advisable.
Courts & Legal
Courts & Legal
SENIOR SERVICES
Hiawatha Valley Area Agency on Aging
302 West Third Street, Winona, MN 55987
Phone: (507) 452-0161
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, and long-term care counseling for Winona County residents.
Senior Services
Hiawatha Valley Area Agency on Aging
302 West Third Street, Winona, MN 55987
Phone: (507) 452-0161
Senior transportation, Meals on Wheels, and long-term care counseling for Winona County residents.
Genealogy
County-level record sources
Winona County District Court (probate case files – see Probate section above).
Local societies
No dedicated Winona County genealogical society was confirmed in available directories.
Probate & Estate
Losing someone and having to deal with courts and paperwork at the same time is hard. This section won’t make that easier, but it should tell you what to expect, what it costs, and where to go – so at least you’re not walking in blind.
Where to go
Winona County District Court Winona County Courthouse, 171 W. Third Street, Winona, MN 55987 (507) 615-5183 Winona County is in southeastern Minnesota on the Mississippi River, seated in Winona.
Step 1: figure out which path applies
Minnesota follows the Uniform Probate Code, which keeps most estates on a streamlined informal track. Minnesota’s small-estate shortcuts are unusual among states in that they can include real property, not just personal property.
Affidavit for Collection of Personal Property (Minn. Stat. § 524.3-1201) – for personal property only. The entire probate estate – including the contents of any safe deposit box, less liens and encumbrances – must be under $75,000. Joint tenancy property and assets that pass by beneficiary designation (life insurance, transfer-on-death accounts) don’t count toward the threshold. A 30-day waiting period applies after death, and no court filing is required – the affidavit is presented directly to the institution holding the property.
Summary Assignment – can include real property, and is court-based. Covers estates up to $75,000, including real property. A certified copy of the court’s Decree of Distribution is filed in the county real estate records to transfer title.
Summary Administration (Minn. Stat. § 524.3-1203) – the higher-threshold real-property option, covering estates up to $150,000, exclusive of the exempt homestead. The homestead itself is excluded from the value calculation entirely for both Summary Assignment and Summary Administration – Minnesota’s homestead exemption protects the family home from most creditor claims and it descends to the surviving spouse free of most claims against the estate. If closing and distribution follow the terms of a will, a formal probate hearing for the will is still required before a summary decree can issue.
STEP 2: FORMAL/INFORMAL PROBATE (for estates above the thresholds)
File with the District Court in the county where the decedent was domiciled; informal probate is available for most estates, with the personal representative appointed by the Registrar and minimal ongoing court interaction.
The personal representative publishes a creditor notice and directly notifies known creditors, opening a 4-month creditor claim period.
Once the creditor period closes and debts are paid, assets can typically be distributed and the estate closed without returning to court, unless there’s a dispute or a beneficiary requests a formal accounting.
Formal probate – requiring a hearing before a judge – is used in more complicated situations, such as will contests or disputes over the personal representative.
THE 3-YEAR DEADLINE – MORE RESTRICTIVE THAN MOST STATES Informal probate is no longer available after 3 years from the date of death, though formal probate may still be possible in limited circumstances.
What it costs
Small estate procedures can move relatively quickly once the 30-day wait passes. Standard informal probate is largely governed by the 4-month creditor period, so most straightforward estates take at least that long to close.
Minnesota has its own state estate tax, but the exemption threshold is relatively high – $3 million – so most Minnesota families aren’t affected. Rates on the amount above the exemption range from 13% to 16%, applied on a graduated scale; the exemption is not portable between spouses. Minnesota has no state inheritance tax.
Probate filings, estate administration, and guardianship matters are handled by the following office(s):
Public Safety & Arrests
Arrest records, inmate search, and law enforcement services are handled by the following office(s):
SHERIFF
171 W. 3rd St., Winona, MN 55987
(507) 457-6400
Elections & Voting
Voter registration, polling locations, and elections information are handled by the following office(s):
ELECTIONS
171 W. 3rd St., Winona, MN 55987
(507) 457-6340
Health & Human Services
Offices & Contacts
Health services, social services, and assistance programs are handled by the following office(s):
Office: Winona County Public Health – Winona, MN 55987
Hospital: Winona Health – Winona, MN, (507) 454-3650, a well-regarded community hospital serving Winona County and nearby Wisconsin communities; Mayo Clinic Health System is also accessible to the northwest.
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Last verified June 2026
County Facts
County Seat: Winona
Population: 51,000
Area: 627 sq mi
Established: 1854
Tier: 4
Inmate Services
Care Packages
Send care packages to inmates in Winona County facilities via Amazon.
