[8] Classes at Winona Normal School began in September 1860, but the next year most of the male students as well as the principal and other staff left to serve in the American Civil War.

The program soon added a laboratory school in which local children received education from faculty while students observed or, occasionally, led lessons themselves.

The normal school quickly outgrew its original four-room building, but state funding and local donations of money and land led to the construction of a proper facility in 1869.

[10] They were nominated as examples of the normal school movement, which helped shape public education in Minnesota.

In this program, each student, upon acceptance, is required to lease their choice of either an Apple Macintosh or Microsoft Windows-based laptop from the university.

This hall closed down after the spring semester of 2019, but reopened in fall 2020 to accommodate single-occupancy room housing in response to COVID-19.

East Lake was built in 2002-03 and opened in 2004, and serves as an apartment complex for both men and women.

It is on Winona State's West Campus, behind Lourdes, and is governed in conjunction with Maria Hall.

Each floor has a full lounge and kitchen, complete with television, furniture, stove, refrigerator, microwave, and toaster.

[27] Winona State University competes in Division II NCAA athletics and its teams are called the Warriors.

The same year, the Warrior gymnastics team competed in the NCAA Division II nationals in Springfield, Massachusetts, taking home the third-place trophy, the first Winona State team to compete in both affiliations at the national level.

The Warriors claimed the NAIA national title again in 1987, this time paced by one individual champion and seven All-American honors.

In 1989, the team represented the school at the Division II nationals in California after a record-breaking season.

The WSU football team won the NSIC conference championship ten times in 15 years (1993–2007).

[30] On March 7, 2007, the men's basketball team won its 53rd consecutive regular or postseason victory, beating the Division II mark set by Langston University.

The streak ended at 57 on March 24, 2007, with a 77-75 loss at the Division II Championship game to the Barton College Bulldogs on a last-second shot.

On March 29, 2008, the men's basketball team defeated Augusta State University 87-76 to win its second NCAA Division II National Championship in three years.

Winona State's softball team appeared in one Women's College World Series in 1974.

[31] Winona State's baseball team played for a national championship on June 4, 2011, facing West Florida in Cary, North Carolina, in the final of the NCAA Division II World Series, and finishing second.