 On February 23, 1854, the legislature partitioned the northern part of Fillmore County, plus a small section of Wabasha, to create Winona County, with the village of Winona as county seat.The county name was taken from the village name, which is said to derive from a Dakota legend about a woman, Winona, (a relative of Chief Wabasha) who was betrothed to a warrior she did not love.Rather than marry him, she jumped to her death from a rock on Lake Pepin now called "Maiden's Rock".