Just like a real-life I-Spy game, the “General Store” exhibit in the Winona County History Center is a sensory playground. Chock full of brightly-colored coffee tins, old-fashioned tools, patterned textiles, and tinted glass bottles, it’s a “day-in-the-life” experience and a visitor favorite.

This exhibit has been on public view for over 30 years, and it is one of the displays that will soon be retired. Much of Winona County Historical Society’s 2024 capital campaign money will fund highly anticipated exhibit updates and new museum experiences in areas like the General Store. The re-envisioned store area will focus on “Made in Winona” themes, highlighting local creators. People, businesses, and artifacts featured in this new space will rotate continuously so that previously unheard stories appear more often. But before the beloved General Store artifacts migrate to collections to receive well-earned pampering, we’d like to share a few things about them that you might not know.

The Latsch Tea Box

On the General Store counter sits a box from Latsch & Son Company sporting faux masonry paper and a label touting “40 cartons of White Rose Japan Tea, choicest May pickings.” By the looks of this ornate container, you’d never guess the hardscrabble beginnings of the Latsch family in America. After emigrating from Switzerland, the Latsches settled in Dakota, Minnesota. They moved a few years later to take up farming in Wisconsin, but after an accident left John Latsch Sr. crippled, the family opened a wholesale grocery store in 1867 Winona. This Latsch business grew and became extremely successful. John Jr. inherited the company and became known not for Japanese tea, but for using his wealth to buy and donate large tracts of land for Winona’s public use.

Bailey and Bailey General store at Winona County History Center

The Bailey & Bailey General Store

The most noteworthy artifact in the General Store is the storefront itself — a nod to the Bailey & Bailey General Store that operated in Winona up until 60 years ago. It all started in 1837 when Luther H. Bailey established a store in New York. During that time, Bailey employed Hannibal Choate, who left the business in 1861 and founded H. Choate & Co. on Third Street in Winona. In 1882, Bailey closed his New York store and proposed that his sons join Choate’s business. The boys worked for Choate until 1900, when they amicably ended their partnership with Choate and opened “Bailey & Bailey” right next door. They designed their dry goods store to be the ultimate posh shopping experience, replete with lounge chairs, magazines, and stationery for waiting patrons. The brothers ran the store together until Clinton died around 1920. It remained in family hands until 1964 when the Baileys decided to close the business and lease the property to the Sears company.

Come back for more General Store next week, where we’ll talk about an artifact from one of the area’s oldest establishments! We hope these artifacts inspire your love of local history and prompt you to join us in their preservation. Give to the History Is Present 2024 Capital Campaign online, mail a check to WCHS at 160 Johnson Street, Winona, or call 507-454-2723 ext. 0 to donate over the phone.