Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Winigan, MO

Winigan is an unincorporated community and census-designated place in southeastern Sullivan County, Missouri, located on Missouri Route 129 about 15 miles southeast of Milan, with the Sullivan-Linn county line just half a mile to the south.

The town of Winigan was laid out in early February 1880 on land belonging to James M. Thrasher, in a tract that had first been obtained from the U.S. government by Noah Harl in February 1857 and changed hands five times in between.

A post office was established at Winigan in 1874, six years before the town was platted, with Van Klelsie as its first postmaster.

According to local folklore, Winigan was named in honor of a Mr. Winnegan, an early settler in southern Sullivan County who was killed by a panther in the 1840s.

Winigan's first store opened in 1878, and by 1888 the town had about 25 families, two dry goods stores, two blacksmith shops, a drug store, and a combination steam sawmill and gristmill.

Winigan once hosted one of the longest-running community street fairs in north Missouri, held on the first weekend of August for over six decades; its 1973 centennial celebration drew a crowd of more than 5,000 people.

The community still holds its Winigan Strawberry Festival each June, and the Winigan 4-H Fair has been held every year since 1938.

Winigan has twice been the scene of a bank robbery - in December 1945, when a local merchant helped foil the getaway by letting the air out of a tire on the robbers' car, and again in July 2009.

The 2020 census counted only 37 people in the Winigan census-designated place, which covers about half a square mile.

Winigan's most famous native is Bud Houser, who won three Olympic gold medals in track and field.