W. W. Mayo House

MNHS Mayo House Logo

Location: 118 North Main Street, Le Sueur, MN 56058

This hand-built house held Dr. W. W. Mayo’s first medical practice witnessed events of the US-Dakota War of 1862, and eventually served as the family home for another giant of Minnesota history — the Cosgrove family of the Green Giant Company.

The Mayo House is managed in partnership with the Ney Nature Center and MHIS, Inc (Mayo House Interpretive Society.) Both the Mayo Family and the Ney Family arrived in this area of the MN River Valley in the mid-1850s. There is no way of knowing if the families knew each other but the general history of the time of settlers in the Le Sueur-Henderson area is shared.

Visit our Facebook and Instagram pages to keep up to date with tours, hours, important dates, and more information!

Tour the Mayo House

Fees

Adults: $6 
Seniors (65+), Veterans, Active military*, College students: $5 
Children ages 5-17: $4
Children age 4 and under: Free 
MNHS members and Ney Nature Center members: Free

For more information on MNHS memberships and their benefits, visit here.

NNC & MNHS Members, please be prepared to show your membership card or confirmation upon arrival.

Weekend tours are open starting in May and running through September. Christmas tours are available in November and December. If you are interested in a private tour, please contact us at 507-665-3250 or mayohouse@neycenter.org.

Christmas Tours

Afternoon:
– Saturday, November 30th from 1-4pm
– Saturday, December 7th from 1-4pm

Candlelit:
– Friday, December 13th from 6-8pm
– Saturday, December 14th from 6-8pm

Costumed guides will lead you through the home while they share stories of the Mayo and Cosgrove families who lived here before founding the Mayo Clinic and the Green Giant Company, respectively. During the holiday season, Christmas Afternoon and Candlelight tours are held on select weekends. The costumed guides will interpret some 1800s Christmas traditions that may have been celebrated by the families.

past picture of the house

The W.W. Mayo House as the first library in Le Sueur.

For more information, please check out the W.W. Mayo House’s page on the Minnesota Historical Society website here.