In August 1883, in the aftermath of one of the worst tornadoes in Midwest history, an agnostic country doctor and the leader of a Catholic teaching order created a partnership that would one day be considered the greatest medical institution in the world—a place for hope when there was no hope.
Mother Alfred Moes and William Worrall Mayo may have not shared religious beliefs, but they were both visionaries…and fiercely devoted to caring for the sick.
After six years of planning and work, Mother Alfred and the Sisters of St. Francis opened Saint Mary’s Hospital with W.W. Mayo as its Medical Director. They both soon retired, but her successor Sister Joseph Dempsey and his two sons, Dr. Will and Dr. Charlie Mayo, would guide the organization for the next 40 years.
The Mayos’ reputation grew rapidly, and soon other doctors joined the practice. At the same time, Sister Joseph opened a nursing school and St. Mary’s grew from a small community hospital into one of the largest and most advanced surgical centers in the United States.
In 1901, the Mayo brothers hired Dr. Henry Plummer who would play a major role in transforming this small group of independent practitioners into a unique collaborative practice. First, he developed a standardized patient medical record—a major innovation at the time. Then, in 1914, he designed a five-story structure to fulfill his vision for a truly integrated multispecialty practice, with dozens of rooms for examinations, diagnostic procedures, and outpatient surgeries, as well as clinical and research laboratories.
Next, the Mayos turned their attention to education, creating one of the largest centers of graduate medical education in the world. Then, they created a trust that stipulated all future profits be reinvested in education, research, and patient care. Their most revolutionary business decision, however, was to place themselves, their partners, and all future Mayo physicians on salary.
In 1938, the Mayo Clinic faced its greatest challenge when Sister Joseph Dempsey, Dr. Charlie, and Dr. Will all died within a few months of each other.
In spite of the passing all three leaders, the organization has continued to thrive. In its first 150 years, Mayo has made many of the most significant breakthroughs in medicine—including real-time frozen-section tumor analysis, the discovery of cortisone, and the first series of successful surgeries using a heart-lung bypass machine. Today, Mayo researchers are involved in thousands of studies and clinical trials to accelerate the pace of stem cell, gene-based, and other individualized therapies.
In 1986, the Clinic, St. Mary’s Hospital, and the affiliated Rochester Methodist Hospital merged as an integrated center of medicine with total assets of $1 billion. It has since created medical centers in Jacksonville, Florida and Scottsdale, Arizona, a regional healthcare system, a medical school, and a worldwide network of like-minded hospitals—all dedicated putting into practice W.W. Mayo’s belief that the needs of the patient must always come first.
