Olmsted County History Center

My wife and I and a couple of relatives were in Rochester for a wedding and needed something to do for an afternoon. I lived here for a few years and never knew the history museum was here because I never really made it to this side of town.
The museum part is pretty small but informative, but the outside features are cool. You can tour an old farm house and an old school.
There is a lot of history about the Mayo Clinic, which I didn’t really know about and you can do the whole thing in about an hour.
We had a nice place to kill a couple of hours and I am glad we did.

I just love coming here when I get free time. The museum is nice and a good alternative day trip for older kids other than the mall or other mindless places. I personally go for the library to look up family history records. There is a computer there to look up items or go on their website at home and bring reference numbers to help pull up records. Staff are usually friendly and willing to show you how to use this throwback contraption called a «microfishe». Seriously haven’t used one since grade school. Staff are few, volunteers I think, and will sometimes get busy doing something or helping others. Plan on making a day of your visit, there are lots of things to go through. You’ll get a hang of it eventually. There is a fee to use the library for non-​members, so if you plan on going frequently you might want to purchase a membership.