WINONA, Min. – In 1852, when river captain Orrin Smith platted Winona, it could be called a one-horse town. In 1934, after streets were paved and U.S. Highway 14 arrived, Winona became a two-stoplight town. Now-a-days Winona has really arrived. It became a three-McDonald’s town in the 2010s. Two are on the old U.S. 14 — one on the West End and one on the East End, both franchises of the 62-store LaCrosse-based Courtesy Corporation. Winona’s third McDonald’s franchise, a pocket storefront downtown n at 172 Man Street, was acquired relatively recently by Courtesy.

Billboard Alley. No Burma-Shave signs anymore but certainly a 1950s entry to Winona. Image: Steve Lunde

A Minnesota brand. The Burma-Vita company of Minneapolis grew its brushless shaving cream into a major national brand in the the 1950s, hyped by corny but catchy roadside signs that claimed an exotic liniment ingredient imported  from Malay and Burma.