W. Bruce Fye Center For the History of Medicine: The Clinic in a Cornfield: Mayo Clinic and Rural Healthcare

Dr. W. W. Mayo with horse and buggy, undated

Dr. William Worrall Mayo (1819-1911) was born in Salford, England, and immigrated to the United States as a young man. Originally a tailor, he began practicing medicine in the United States and attended medical school at Indiana Medical College and the University of Missouri. Dr. Mayo and his family later settled in Le Sueur, Minnesota, where he supplemented his medical practice with veterinary work and other occupations, including serving as a justice of the peace and a newspaper editor, running a ferry service, and working on a steamboat. In 1863, he was appointed examining surgeon for the Union Army enrollment board and moved to Rochester, Minnesota. Dr. Mayo’s medical practice—assisted by his two sons, Will (William J. Mayo, M.D., 1861-1939) and Charlie (Charles H. Mayo, M.D., 1865-1939)—would evolve into Mayo Clinic.

This doctor’s bag was manufactured by Charles Truax, Greene and Co., Chicago, and possibly belonged to Dr. Charlie. As boys, Charlie and his brother Will assisted their father on his rounds, helping with everything from holding horses to administering anesthesia. Dr. Will later recalled, “From the time that we were old enough to be of any use, we helped our father in practice; grew up to be physicians, just as boys on a farm grow up to be farmers.”

Mayo One flying over farmland, undated

Mayo One began operating on October 1, 1984. Because helicopters can cover more distance in a shorter amount of time than ground emergency vehicles, Mayo One is able to provide better service to rural communities. 

This Mayovox article from 1987 describes the scope of the service and its benefits to rural areas.

Mayo One uniform patches, undated

Mayo One i-STAT Machine

In June 1995, this i-STAT portable laboratory machine fell from Mayo One when the helicopter was flying near Medford, Minnesota, at an altitude of 5500 feet MSL (mean sea level)/4200 feet AGL (above ground level). The machine was later found by a local farmer while walking his fields and was returned to Mayo Clinic.

Like the Mayo brothers, many of Mayo Clinic’s early partners and consultants came from rural areas: 

This amputation kit includes knives and saws for amputating limbs, a trephine and craniotomy saw for removing sections of the skull, and a tourniquet.

From 1925-1983, Mayo Clinic artists created anatomical wax models for educational exhibits at major medical meetings and World Expositions. Many of these models were then displayed in the Mayo Medical Museum (1935-1988). Because of Mayo Clinic’s location in a thriving agricultural region, it received a large number of emergency farm accident cases. One exhibit in the Museum featured models depicting real farm accidents as they were initially seen by staff and follow-up models of the healed wounds. Mayo’s farm accident models are likely unique as no other anatomical model collection worldwide is currently known to have addressed this kind of injury. 

The two models above show the damage done to a farmer’s hand caught in a machinery accident. The hand on the right is post reconstructive surgery.

Farm accidents exhibit in the Mayo Medical Museum, 1978

This Mayovox article from April 1974 describes a cattle auction that raised funds for a scholarship intended for students interested in rural practice. At right is Gerald Needham, Associate Dean for Student Affairs in the Mayo Medical School. To the left are Mrs. and Dr. Carl Lundell, owners of the auctioned heifer. Dr. Lundell had a general practice in Granite Falls, MN.