Mayo, William Worrall

Mayo, William Worrall (1819–1911) physician; born in Manchester, England. He emigrated to the U.S.A. in 1845, and after taking his M.D. from the University of Missouri, he settled in Minnesota Territory in 1855. As a prominent physician and surgeon based in Rochester, Minn., he helped build St. Mary's Hospital there after a destructive cyclone (1885). In 1889 he and his two sons, Charles and William Mayo, founded a clinic at that hospital that soon became a surgical center for the region and gradually a surgical hospital and teaching center of world renown. It was also a pioneer in medical group practice—cooperation among several specialists. It was named the Mayo Clinic in 1903. William Worrall was also active in politics, helping to organize the Minnesota Territory as a state (1858), serving as mayor of Rochester for several terms, and as a state senator. In 1862 he served as an army surgeon during the uprising of the Sioux.