Winona was established in 1860 along the north-south tracks of the Mississippi Central Railroad (later the Illinois Central). Summit Street runs east-west, and government and religious buildings are interspersed on the higher ground along the street’s north side. Summit intersects Front Street, and here commercial buildings face east toward the railroad tracks. When the railroad engineers brought in the line, they raised the ground to the level of Front Street and well above the surface of Central Avenue across the tracks to the east. In 1888, a fire destroyed most of downtown, but in 1889, the arrival of the Columbus and Greenville Railroad made Winona a transportation nexus, guaranteeing its prosperity and generating new commercial and residential buildings. Winona retains its Masonic lodges for both white and black citizens. The former is a two-story brick building (c. 1889) with arched windows at 111 Summit Street, and the latter is a two-story wooden structure (1903) with gabled and pent roofs located at Campbell and S. Applegate streets.
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