Web Design in Rochester, MN

Rochester, Olmsted County

Well-Known Places in Rochester

Mayo Clinic, Plummer Building, Quarry Hill Nature Center.

Rochester Business Districts

• Downtown Rochester
• Discovery Square
• Apache Mall area
• Saint Marys district

Major Employers in Rochester

Mayo Clinic, IBM, Olmsted Medical Center, Rochester Public Schools, Charter Communications.

About Rochester, Olmsted County

Rochester is a southeastern Minnesota city defined almost entirely by one institution: the Mayo Clinic, whose gleaming towers and 50,000-plus employees dominate downtown. What began as a prairie wheat-trading town became the world's most famous destination-medicine hub, drawing patients and royalty from across the globe. Add IBM's historic engineering campus and a lake full of once-thought-extinct giant geese, and Med City is far quirkier than its buttoned-down medical reputation suggests.

History of Rochester

• Platted in 1854 and named after Rochester, New York, the town began as a stagecoach stop and wheat-trading center in Olmsted County.
• A devastating tornado struck Rochester on August 21, 1883, killing at least 37 people and destroying roughly a third of the town; Dr. W.W. Mayo organized emergency care and enlisted the Sisters of Saint Francis, led by Mother Alfred Moes.
• Mother Alfred proposed that the Sisters fund a hospital if the Mayos provided the medical care; Saint Marys Hospital opened in the fall of 1889 with 27 beds.

Landmarks and Places in Rochester

• The Plummer Building (opened 1928), topped by a terra-cotta tower housing a 56-bell carillon, with owl, winged salamander, and hawk figures symbolizing wisdom, rejuvenation, and vigilance.
• Mayo Clinic's Saint Marys Campus, the hospital born from the 1889 partnership with the Sisters of Saint Francis.
• Silver Lake, a 50-acre man-made reservoir in the center of town famous for its resident geese.

The Rochester Economy

• Mayo Clinic is the anchor of the local economy and, excluding state government, the largest employer in all of Minnesota, with roughly 50,000 employees in Rochester.
• IBM's Rochester campus was long the region's other economic pillar, peaking around 8,000 workers; it designed IBM's midrange systems (AS/400) and built the first Blue Gene prototype supercomputer.
• Rochester Public Schools and IBM round out the top employers behind Mayo, reflecting a base of health care, technology, and education.

Community Life in Rochester

• Thursdays Downtown runs every Thursday from June through August, filling First Avenue with restaurant and artist booths and two stages of live music.
• Rochesterfest is the city's signature annual summer festival.
• Cultural institutions include the Rochester Art Center and the Mayo Civic Center.

Local reference: en.wikipedia.org, history.mayoclinic.org, www.experiencerochestermn.com