History of the Mayo Clinic

This is the story of three people who worked together for many years bringing thousands of ill people back to health. These three were the famous Mayo brothers and Sister Mary Joseph, a nun of the Order of St. Francis.

The Mayo brothers, Dr. William and Dr. Charles, were sons of William Worrall Mayo, who came to America from England in 1845. He studied medicine and became a physician in 1854. In 1863, he made Rochester, Minnesota, his home.

His first son, William James, was born in 1861. the second boy, Charles Horace, was born four years later. From the time they were quite young they helped their father, driving the horse on his sick calls, later aiding in operations and learning to assist with anesthesia.

He taught them the structure of the body, using as object lesson the skeleton of a Sioux Indian warrior named Cut Nose, who had been executed for his part in instigating a Sious uprising in Mankato, Minnesota in 1862.

The boys learned to use a microscope in their father's office. They learned about drugs by working in the town drugstore during their school vacations.

By the time both brothers had finished their medical courses at college, they were ready and eager to enter their father's office and share his growing medical practice.

Dr. William joined his father in 1883. That same year a cyclone struck the town of Rochester, killing and injuring many people. Dr. William Morrall Mayo was given charge of a temporary hospital in which the wounded were cared for. Volunteer nurses flocked to his assistance, among them a group of nursing sisters from the nearby Convent of St. Francis.

The help of these good women was intelligent and efficient. The doctor was grateful for their unselfish services. they admired his skill and recognized in him a great physician and surgeon.

The Mother Superior of the convent proposed that her religious order supply funds for a permanent hospital to be directed by Dr. Mayo and his two sons, with the Sisters of St. Francis as nurses. The offer was quickly accepted, and St. Mary's Hospital was opened, with thirteen patients in 1889.

In those days, hospitals were not so popular. Now it is realized by most ill people that intelligent care can be given best in a hospital, but back them many entered a hospital with reluctance, even with great fear.

Nevertheless, the group of three doctors and five plucky nursing sisters had no fear of failure. For one thing, they were all willing to work. The nurses divided their hours of duty like a ship's watch, and followed the schedule with unfailing regularity.

The hospital succeeded because patients went into it sick and fearful and came out well and grateful. the doctors believed in surgery and seemed to have a genius for it. Some of their surgical success was due to use of aseptic and antiseptic methods, which at that time was a new development in medicine.

The work of Pasteur and of Lister was not well accepted. St. Mary's used, from the day its doors were opened, the finding of Pasteur and Lister. word soon went out that few patients died after operations by the Mayo brothers.

In 1904 there were 3,151 operations performed at St. Mary's. By 1925, the number was 23,628. By this time, however, Dr. William Worrrall May had retired, and a number of assistant surgeons trained in the Mayo methods, had joined the staff.

St. Mary's added a new wing in 1905, but before long new hospitals were also being built in Rochester, four in all, and the hotels for patients and close relatives of those who came to the town in search of heath soon also filled. By 1922, a new and much larger St. Mary's Hospital was completed.

In the early days, the three Mayos diagnosed ailments, did all the surgery and directed medical care for all patients. Gradually, however, it was necessary to add to the staff, and to increase their offices in the town.

In 1914, they opned their own office building or clinic, with consulting rooms for each member of the staff, comfortable waiting rooms for the patients, laboratories, rooms for special examinations and space for modern medical and surgical equipment.

By this time, the members of the staff were highly trained specialists. Some diagnosed, others gave X-ray treatments, others administered anesthetics.

There were medical experts and surgeons. Many of the surgeons today commonly specialize, but that was standard for all Mayo Clinic physicians and surgeons, leading the way for medical practices still in place today.

Young physicians and graduates of medical schools began years ago to apply for places int he Mayo clinic and in the various hospitals which it served. The experience to be gathered there, and the knowledge and skill to be gained by working under the direction of the Mayos, attracted serious and ambitious students.

The Mayos felt a sense of duty toward these young men and women, and gave them as complete training as possible. They realized that while the chief work fo the clinic was to make patients well, not to train young doctors, nevertheless, here was the opportunity for wider service in the cause of health.

If more doctors and surgeons could have the benefit of training in the Mayo Clinic, they could carry Mayo methods to other cities and other hospitals and thus help many more sufferers.

Although many thousands of poor people had been treated at the clinic without charge, or upon payment of small fees, the fees from well-to-do patients amounted to a considerable sum each yer in the early days.

The Mayo brothers had early in their career, begun to lay aside the major portion of their income for a special fund. By 1914, the fund had reached the amount of over a million and a half dollars. The Mayos turned this over to the University of Minnesota to be administered as the Mayo Foundation in form of a graduate school, to advance medical training and medical research at the university.

The foundation established headquarters in Rochester, and the many facilities for study and research afforded by the clinic were freely opned to the students.

From then on, the young men and women who came to Rochester from medical school to learn more about the business of being a doctor have been sure of well-planned and well-conducted study and experience.

The clinic building of 1914 soon became too small, for more and more doctors were needed. New and bigger laboratories, a larger medical library, and conference rooms resulted in the 1929 Mayo Clinic skyscraper being built.

Before their deaths, the two famous Mayo brothers arranged for the continuance of the Mayo Foundation. In the words of Dr. William J. Mayo:

"The people's money, of which we have been moral custodians, is being returned to the people."

In March, 1939, Sister Mary Joseph died. She had joined the nursing staff of St. Mary's a few months after the hospital opened in 1889. For a quarter of a century she had been surgery assistant to Dr. Will, who had often called her the foremost of his helpers.

Two months after her death, Dr. Charles Mayo died, and in another two months, Dr. William J. Mayo died.

However, as we all know today, their work not only continued through the men and women they inspired and taught, but made the Mayo Clinic and the Mayo Foundation what it is today.