watkins museum and store

Presents the history of Watkins enterprises. Also offers their soaps and other products for sale. All are high quality and have limited availability elsewhere,

Great displays. Took me back to my childhood. The old calendars were great. The war rations were great too.

I knew nothing about J.R. Watkins products, other than I had picked up a hand cream a few years ago that I really liked (and then had problems finding again). My husband and I stopped in here to walk through their museum exhibits, which were pretty interesting. I had no idea the scope of what Watkins offered over the years and how their company worked, with individual salesmen. And, of course, we had the opportunity to grab some more of that lemon hand cream that I like.When we were leaving, a man on the street asked if we had gone around the corner into the administration building and mentioned it was worth seeing. So, we went in and rang through to the receptionist, who let us in to see the beautiful mosaics and stained glass. So, an extra bonus to our visit!

Did not know what to expect, but the 1912 administration building was impressive with beautiful stained glass and mosaic decorations. The museum is on the side and has no restroom, so had to go back to the administration building and sign in to use the restroom. Learned a lot about the history of the Watkins company and bought some products to give as gifts.

Amazing to learn the number of products distributed by the Watkins name. I remembered many of them from my youth growing up in Western Pennsylvania.

This was a good stop. It was great for picking up some gifts for family. I also enjoyed getting to treat myself to some new spices and lotion. It's amazing how a company can be in business for so long and still be thriving today.

This is one of the things Winona is known for so one must go see the factory and museum. It is nicely laid out cronologically, clean and well stocked if one wants to purchase any of their products

Fascinating to learn the history of this local company which still makes excellent, high quality products from bath and body to food flavours and spices.Definitely take a tour as the stories are fascinating and also reveal the history of Winona.

I really enjoyed the museum wish we would have had more time there. But, the woman working here was not friendly, did not even say hello! She just wanted us to leave, pretty bad representation of such a wonderful company that has been around forever.

The Watkins Products factory presents the history of the Watkins Company sales, manufacturing and products. Still the primary provider of " white vanilla" in the US, Watkins has produced lintament, snake oil, all sorts of home remedies for almost a hundred years. You can buy their products at the store or just tour. Either way this is a slice of Americana that should not be missed.

I was surprised just how much Watkins has been involved in Americanna. Spices, oils, military food packs at the turn of the century, extracts, rubbing compounds, you name it ... Known (in my family anyway before I even moved in to the area) for pepper and vanilla extract, Watkins has an immense selection of spices. Can get any of them in the musuem store too!

I had not been to Watkins for over a year. I was impressed with the refreshed look of the overall museum inside and out. I like the new outer sign and the replastered walls on the 2nd floor. My main objective was to see the new 2nd floor exhibit on early Lawrence and Quantrill's raid. I was pleasantly surprised at the eclectic mix of the teller's cages and sleek look of your photos and panels. It was all very informative and put faces to these familiar names in Lawrence history. I also liked the interactive oral map of the raid. My only suggestion would to have more artifacts on display. I realize this takes more time and funding so overall I was very pleased. Keep up the good work.

This is a free museum! It was interesting to walk through and see the photos & read the displays showing the history of the Watkins Company. It took me about 10 minutes MAX to walk through the displays, so it is just the right length to get the history and not so long that kids get squirmy and restless :) The best part for me is that I stocked up on my Watkins products so I didn't have to order them from the catalog! I also got some "Christmas shopping" done :) The bottles of flavorings and spices are great stocking stuffers!

Don't miss the framed reprint from the Oregonian about the door-to-door Watkins Products salesman with cerebral palsy. It'll bring tears to your eyes. The history of this Winona family company and its products is fascinating.

We visited on Friday, June 7, 2013. The museum is OK, it is quaint and has all sorts of products on display from years gone by. The "store" section is small and sell some spices and vanilla.The absolute best part of this building complex is around the corner in the "administrative" building. The interior lobby has extensive stained glass and mosaics on the ceiling and wall.