Rochester is a city in the U.S. state of Minnesota and the county chair of Olmsted County. Located upon rolling bluffs upon the Zumbro River’s south fork in Southeast Minnesota, the city is the home and birthplace of the well-known Mayo Clinic.

At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 121,395, making it Minnesota’s third-largest city. The Rochester metropolitan area, which also includes the easy to use rural agricultural areas, had a population of 226,329 in 2020.

Several original peoples such as Dakota, Ojibway, and Winnebago inhabited the Rochester area. The area developed as a stagecoach End between Saint Paul, Minnesota, and Dubuque, Iowa near the Zumbro River. The community was founded by George Head and his wife Henrietta who built a log cabin named Head’s Tavern in 1854 and named the city after his hometown of Rochester, New York. When the Winona and St Peter Railroad initiated assist in October 1864, it brought further residents and thing opportunities and spurred growth. In 1863, Dr. William W. Mayo arrived as the examining surgeon for Union draftees in the Civil War.

On August 21, 1883, the Great Tornado demolished much of Rochester, leaving 37 dead and approximately 200 injured. As there was no medical gift in the immediate area at the time, Dr. Mayo and his two sons worked together to care for the wounded. Donations of US$60,000 (US$1,567,054 in 2016 accounting for inflation) were collected and the Sisters of St. Francis, assisted by Mayo, opened a new skill named St. Marys Hospital in 1889.