Muir Library director Nicole Krienke, left, and Winnebago Area Museum Board president Hazel McCrury, right, will soon welcome Colin Mustful as a speaker.

Nicole Krienke moved to Winnebago in 2019, and began her position as director of the Muir Library shortly after.

Three years later, she admits one thing about the town still puzzles her.

“I’m very interested in why we’re called ‘Winnebago,'” Krienke says.

An upcoming presentation by noted author and historian Colin Mustful will illuminate the matter on June 16, at 7 p.m.

Thanks to funds provided by a Traverse des Sioux Library Cooperative grant, Mustful will be visiting the Winnebago Area Museum to share his knowledge about the Ho-Chunk.

The Ho-Chunk are a Native American people whose history is deeply enmeshed with that of the Faribault County area, and who indirectly gave Winnebago its name.

Mustful’s presentation, titled “Moved and Removed: Tying the City of Winnebago to the History of the Ho-Chunk,” will outline the Ho-Chunk people’s history of forced displacement, and explain how that history led to their brief residence in the area.

As Mustful explains on his website, colinmustful.com, the Ho-Chunk originally resided in what is now Wisconsin’s Door Peninsula. They later expanded their territory to regions surrounding Lake Winnebago and extending down toward the Mississippi River.

However, a period of turmoil eventually led to treaty negotiations with the U.S. Government in 1832, after which the Ho-Chunk ceded their land in southeastern Wisconsin in exchange for land in eastern Iowa.

According to Mustful, the Ho-Chunk endured several additional episodes of displacement, which pushed their people steadily across the Midwest. In 1855, they eventually exchanged 897,900 acres of the Long Prairie Reservation in Minnesota for 200,000 acres along the Blue Earth River, just south of Mankato.

It was this displacement which solidified the Ho-Chunk’s connection to the Faribault County area, Mustful notes.

They remained in the area for several years, until a bloody conflict known as the Dakota War caused the Ho-Chunk to be forcibly removed from the area, along with the Dakota people, in 1863.

Mustful points out that the sudden displacement was enacted despite the Ho-Chunk’s lack of involvement in the conflict, which was primarily between a contingent of the Dakotah people and the U.S. Government.

The Ho-Chunk endured years of turmoil following the Dakota War, as they were removed to inhospitable land which was difficult to scrape a living off of.

It took 100 years for the Ho-Chunk to eventually gain federal recognition of their heritage and rightful territory in 1963. It was also at this point when the Ho-Chunk reclaimed their rightful name.

For over 100 years, their people had been commonly referred to as the ‘Winnebago.’ Mustful explains that the name was coined by the Ho-Chunk’s French neighbors, who referred to them as the  ’Ouinepegi.’ The name translates roughly to ‘People of the Stinky Waters.’

The term was further garbled by U.S. officials, who interpreted its pronunciation as ‘Winnebago.’

However, Mustful clarifies that the Ho-Chunk refer to themselves as ‘Hochungra,’ or, ‘The People with the Big Voice,’ even if their old title may be preserved via the name of a certain Faribault County town.

On June 16, Mustful will illuminate the Ho-Chunk people’s tragic, but ultimately triumphant history in the company of that very town’s large collection of Native American artifacts.

The items, housed in the Winnebago Area Museum, are tangible reminders of the area’s deep connection to Native American culture and history.

“I’ve heard, but don’t know for a fact, that this is the second largest (Native American)  artifact exhibit in the state,” says Hazel McCrury, president of the Winnebago Area Museum board.

On a guided tour of the exhibit, McCrury gestures to case after case of Native American beadwork, grinding stones, arrowheads, pottery shards and even bison bones.

McCrury notes one well-preserved bison skull was found in the Blue Earth River by Jeremiah Maine and Andrew Urban in 2000.

She also points to a set of perfectly-round stones – rare game stones which were dodged and thrown in turn by participants.

A large grizzly bear, shot by a former Winnebago resident Ed Habeger in 1976, stands guard at the forefront of the exhibit of Native American artifacts.

“Everything beyond the bear was found locally,” McCrury says.

She explains most of the items were unearthed on the banks of the Blue Earth River. There, many a spring rain would lead area locals to haul out their plows and overturn precious artifacts in the freshly-dug soil.

The artifacts now live a quiet existence behind protective glass.

However, their sheer number is a valuable reminder of the indigenous peoples who used to reside in the Faribault County area.

Krienke and McCrury both agree it is important to learn the history of those who first called this land ‘home.’

“(Native American history) is a huge part of our area,” Krienke says.  

McCrury agrees, considering, “We’re just a drop in the bucket of history.” 

The Winnebago Area Museum exemplifies the vast span of humanity’s history. The museum’s exhibits range from Mississippian artifacts dated between 900-1600 A.D. to 1950s kitchen appliances to class portraits of Winnebago High School’s final graduating class in the early 2000s.

For those who have not visited the museum before, Mustful’s presentation will be an opportunity to start their exploration of Winnebago’s history with some of the area’s earliest occupants.

“If you’re a history buff, I think you’ll find it very interesting,” Krienke says.

She adds the program, like most others offered by Muir Library and the Winnebago Area Museum, is free to the public.

“We want people to be able to come,” Krienke explains.

Admission to the museum, in fact, is always free. McCrury and her fellow board members hope to see many people, both locals and travelers, push open the front doors for a visit from time to time.