more acclimated to American society, they came to identify with the far more numerous Polish Americans. Only recently, due to the efforts of the Polish Cultural Institute and Museum, has Winona's Kashubian culture begun to be reclaimed. Industrial development Growth in Winona was built on a railway and steamboat transportation system, wheat milling, and lumber. In 1856 over 1,300 steamboats stopped at Winona. The Winona and St. Peter Railroad first from Winona to Stockton, Minnesota, were completed by the end of 1862, making it the second operational railroad in Minnesota, after the St. Paul and Pacific Line from Saint Paul to St. Anthony Falls. In December 1870, the Mississippi River was bridged at Winona by the Winona Rail Bridge. In 1867 the Chicago and Northwestern Railway Company purchased the controlling shares in the Winona and St Peter. The railway system grew and the Winona Green Bay and Western Rail Bridge, built of steel and iron with a steam-powered swingspan over the river, was the second railway bridge to span the Mississippi at Winona. The first train crossed on July 4, 1891 and the bridge served the Green Bay & Western (GBW) and Burlington Route for the next 94 years until it was closed in 1985 and dismantled in the fall of 1990. In 1892, a wagon toll-bridge over the Mississippi, a steel high-bridge, was completed and remained in service until 1942. During the 1860s southern Minnesota was the greatest wheat-producing region in the country and Winona was the main port for shipping Minnesota wheat. By 1870, Winona was the fourth largest wheat shipping port in the United States. In 1899, Bay State Milling was founded, and is still in operation today. John Laird started the first lumber mill in 1855; he later was joined by his cousins James and Matthew Norton in founding the Laird-Norton Co. The Winona sawmills reached their peak production in 1892 when they produced over 160 million board feet (380,000 m³) annually and ranked eighth in production of lumber in the upper Midwest. Millionaires and musicians A famous resident of Winona was J. R. Watkins, the man who invented the "money-back guarantee" in 1868 when he started Watkins Incorporated. In the early 1900s, he renamed the company the J. R. Watkins Medical Company. He died before the completion of the company's current factory and offices in 1911. Now called J. R. Watkins Incorporated, it is one