Olmsted County History Center boasts a variety of exhibits from the settlement days to the present. The center features interpretive displays of the area’s history, including the traditional 1880’s one-room Hadley Valley School House, and the 1860s William Dee Log Cabin. Discover the area's history of on medicine, Saint Marys Hospital, IBM, and the 1883 Rochester tornado. The OCHC also incorporates a research library containing over 600,000 maps, photographs, diaries, journals, and books relating primarily to Olmsted County and southeastern Minnesota.
One of the OCHC's must see treasures is the Mayowood Estate. Dr. Charles H. Mayo, a cofounder of the internationally known Mayo Clinic, created the Mayowood Estate in Rochester, Minnesota between 1911 and 1938.
In 1965 the Mayo family donated the historic home and ten acres to the Olmsted County Historical Society. Two years later, due to its architectural and historical prominence, Mayowood was declared a Minnesota Historic Site by a legislative act and in 1970 the mansion and landscape were listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
