The city of Rochester, MN

Rochester, Minnesota lies alongside the South Fork of the Zumbro River. According to the United States Census Bureau. The main campuses of IBM and Mayo Clinic are situated in the small town...


It is Minnesota's third-largest city and the largest city. As of 2013, the Rochester metropolitan area has a population of 211,853.

IBM's Rochester campus is one of the company's most important manufacturing centers. It has produced the System i series, been home to the first Blue Gene prototype, and contributed the servers for Roadrunner. Seven employees at the Rochester IBM campus created IBM Employees Credit Union, which is now Think Mutual Bank, a chain of banks in the Rochester and Twin Cities metropolitan areas.

The initial structure was designed by Eero Saarinen, who clad the structure in blue panels of varying hues after being inspired by the Minnesota sky, as well as IBM's nickname of "Big Blue". These features and the facility's size has earned it the nickname "The Big Blue Zoo" from employees.

Along with the Mayo Clinic, the IBM plant is one of the biggest employers in the Rochester area, reportedly numbering around 5,000 in 2002.

Mayo Clinic forms the core of Rochester's economy. It employs over 30,000 people in the city and every year draws over 2 million visitors to the city. The clinic's many facilities, along with hotels, restaurants and retail stores, comprise nearly all of the city's downtown. Excluding the state government, Mayo Clinic is the largest employer in Minnesota. Other care providers, including the Rochester Federal Medical Center, are significant employers.
Mayo Clinic is a nonprofit medical practice and medical research group based in Rochester, Minnesota. It is the first and largest integrated nonprofit medical group practice in the world, employing more than 3,800 physicians and scientists and 50,900 allied health staff. The practice specializes in treating difficult cases through tertiary care. It spends over $500 million a year on research.
Dr. William Worrall Mayo settled his family in Rochester in 1864 and opened a medical practice that evolved under his sons into Mayo Clinic. Mayo Clinic ranked No. 1 on the 2014-2015 U.S.
The Plummer Building in Rochester, Minnesota is one of the many architecturally significant buildings on the Mayo Clinic campus.
The early design collaboration between Henry Stanley Plummer and Franklin Ellerbe established the model for future generations of new clinic and hospital buildings. The new 1928 Mayo Clinic building was the physical manifestation of the early Mayo partners (Dr. Will and Charlie Mayo, Dr. Stinchfield, Dr. Graham, Dr. Judd, Dr. Henry Plummer, Dr. Millet, and Dr. Balfour) desire to create the first integrated private group practice.

When the building was complete it was the tallest in the state, until the construction of the Foshay Tower in Minneapolis, and remained the tallest building in Rochester until 2001 when the nearby Gonda Building was completed.

The Plummer Building is among the more than 200 structures designed by the Ellerbe firm in Rochester. They are also the architect of record for other Mayo buildings including the 1914 "Red" Clinic building, the 1922 Mayo Institute for Experimental Medicine building, the 1954 Clinic building, and the 2002 Gonda Building, as well as the Rochester Methodist Hospital.

In 1863, William Worrall Mayo (1819–1911) came to Rochester, Minnesota as part of his appointment as an examining surgeon for the military draft board during the American Civil War. The city was to his liking, and his wife and children joined him in early 1864. William Worrall Mayo opened his medical practice after the war, and served in several leadership roles in the community. Both of W.W. Mayo's sons, William James Mayo (1861–1939) and Charles Horace Mayo (1865–1939) grew up in Rochester, and when old enough both attended medical school. William (Will) graduated in 1883 and joined his father's practice, with Charles (Charlie) joining after he completed his training in 1888.
On August 21, 1883, a tornado struck Rochester, causing at least 37 deaths in the area and over 200 injuries. One-third of the town was destroyed, but the Mayo family escaped serious harm. The relief efforts began immediately with a temporary hospital being established at the city dance hall, and the doctors Mayo (W.W. and Will) were extensively involved in treating the injured who were brought there for help. Mother Alfred Moes and the Sisters of Saint Francis (a teaching order) were called in to act as nurses despite having been trained as teachers and with little if any medical experience.

After the crisis subsided, Mother Alfred Moes approached W.W. Mayo about establishing a hospital in Rochester, where she agreed to help staff the hospital. On September 30, 1889, Saint Marys Hospital was opened by the Sisters. Dr. W.W. Mayo, 70 years old, was one of the consulting physicians at the hospital. His two sons began seeing patients and performing surgeries at the hospital when they returned from medical school in the 1880s.

Mayo Clinic has a large presence in three U.S. metropolitan areas: Rochester (Minnesota), Jacksonville (Florida), and Phoenix (Arizona). The Clinic employs more than 32,000 people at the main campus in Rochester, Minnesota and the Arizona and Florida sites employ approximately 5,000 persons at each site.[2] In addition, the Mayo Clinic owns and operates the Mayo Clinic Health System, which consists of more than 70 hospitals and clinics across Minnesota, Iowa, Wisconsin and Georgia with an employment of 14,000 persons. Mayo Clinic also operates several colleges of medicine, including Mayo Medical School, the Mayo Graduate School, and the Mayo School of Graduate Medical Education, Mayo School of Health Sciences.

The Plummer House is the former residence of Dr. Henry Stanley Plummer and Daisy Berkman Plummer. Dr. Plummer, a Mayo Clinic partner and founder, worked very closely with Ellerby and Round, the architects of record, on the design of the house. The house includes many innovations that were quite novel for their time, including a central vacuum system, underground sprinkler system, intercommunications system, dumbwaiter, electricity and gas lighting, the first gas furnace in the city, garage door openers, heated pool, water tower, and two underground caves going into the house and the water tower. The 5 story home is over 300 feet (91 m) long, with 49 rooms including 10 bathrooms, 9 bedrooms and 5 fireplaces. His wife Daisy Plummer and family gave the house with all its furnishings to the Rochester Art Center with the understanding that it would be operated as a Center for the Arts. Daisy Plummer envisioned her home to be used for music recitals and dance performances, as well as a setting for artists to create and show their work.

Dr. Charles H. Mayo, co-founder of the Mayo Clinic, built Mayowood in 1911.  He lived in it until 1939.  The estate features gardens and Dr. Mayo’s decorative arts collection. Over 40 rooms are furnished in French, English, Spanish, German and American antiques.
Since undertaking ownership, the Olmsted County Historical Society has operated Mayowood Mansion as a historic house museum. The mansion has been maintained as it was when last occupied by Doctor and Mrs. Charles W. Mayo and is used to interpret the lives of this famous medical family.

A uniquely shaped water tower, designed to resemble a husked ear of corn, stands above the old Libby Foods plant on the south end of Rochester. The facility is now owned by Seneca Foods, and the tower is a landmark relic. If you ever are going to Rochester, there is no way for you to miss it :)

The Soldiers Field Veteran's Memorial was created to honor Veterans from Southeast Minnesota who died serving USA and dedicated to all who served the country to help keep the people free. The Memorial remind future generations that people must not only protect theirselves from outside forces who would deny them  freedom, but they must understand that like the downfall of the Roman Empire, the freedom can also be lost from within if they allow their moral and ethical standards to decay. They can not tolerate bigotry or corruption in any form. Those who say they have no influence on their society have forgotten that the people each control their own conduct, which then becomes part of their own country's weakness or strength.