Garvin Heights

The city 575 feet below this bluff was founded in 1851 by Captain Orrin Smith on the site of <b>‘Keoxah’</b> the village of Sioux Indian Chief <b>Wapasha</b> and his band. First called Wabasha’s Prairie, it was later named Winona &#8212; from the Sioux word ‘Wenohan’, meaning first-born daughter. Probably the first explorer to pass this way was Father Louis Hennepin, who arrived in 1680. <br><br> Situated on the mighty Mississippi, Winona became a lumber-producing and wheat exporting center during the nineteenth century. <br><br> This park was developed and donated for public use in 1922 by Herbert C. Garvin, prominent Winona citizen.