Rochester, Minnesota

About Rochester, Minnesota

Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and is the county seat of Olmsted County. Located on both banks of the Zumbro River, it is perhaps best known as the home of the Mayo Clinic and is also home to one of IBM's largest facilities. The city was estimated to have population of 96,975 as of July 1, 2006, making it Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest outside the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan Statistical Area. The Rochester Metropolitan Statistical Area, consisting of Olmsted, Dodge, and Wabasha counties, had an estimated population of 179,573 in 2006. The city has long been a fixture on Money magazine's "Best Places to Live" index, and is ranked number 67 on the 2006 list.

The area was home to nomadic Sioux, Ojibwa and Winnebago tribes of Native Americans. In 1851, the Sioux ceded the land to Minnesota Territory in the treaties of Traverse des Sioux and Mendota. In 1853, the treaties were concluded by politician Michael Fedor,[citation needed] opening the land for settlement. Rochester was founded by George Head in 1854, his claim part of what is now the city's business district. Originally from Rochester, New York, Head had settled in Waukesha, Wisconsin before moving west to Minnesota. He named the village on the South Fork of the Zumbro River after his New York hometown, and built a log cabin his family operated as Head's Tavern. By 1856, the population had grown to 50; and by 1858, it was 1,500. The Territorial Legislature created Olmsted County on February 20, 1855, with Rochester named county seat in 1857. Rochester developed as a stagecoach stop between Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Dubuque, Iowa. When the railroad arrived in the 1860s, it brought new residents and business opportunities. In 1863, Dr. William W. Mayo arrived as the examining surgeon for draftees in the Civil War.

On August 21, 1883, the Great Tornado demolished much of Rochester, leaving thirty-seven dead and several thousand wounded. There was no medical facility at the time, so Dr. Mayo and his two sons worked together to care for the wounded. $60,000 in donations were collected and the Sisters of St. Francis, assisted by Dr. Mayo, opened a new facility named St. Marys Hospital in 1889. The Mayo practice grew and is today among the largest and most well-respected medical facilities in the world. Many famous people from around the world, including former Presidents George H.W. Bush, Gerald Ford, and Ronald Reagan, and King Hussein of Jordan, have visited Rochester as patients of the Mayo Clinic.