100 First Ave. Building

When the 100 First Avenue building was completed, it was said to be the most modern office building in the Upper Midwest. The office and shopping complex, built by the Mayo Foundation, had 44 tenants when the doors opened in May 1940.

Eight years later, as seen in this 1948 photograph, the first floor along the First Street Southwest side of the building housed several well-known local shops. One of the most popular with Mayo Clinic workers was the Ina May Uniform Shoppe, owned for 26 years by sisters Ina and May Reilly. Clinic visitors shopped at Holm & Olson florists, which had the prominent corner windows at First Street and First Avenue – an advantage in a competitive market for flowers. Holm & Olson advertised that flowers in the shop had been grown in Rochester at the firm’s greenhouses on 11th Avenue Northwest.

The location of the 100 First Avenue building had been the site of Rochester’s U.S. Post Office from 1912 to 1934. The Mayo Foundation owned the building until selling it to local businessmen in 1978. Today, the complex sits on the Peace Plaza and houses shops, a food court and apartments.

History Center of Olmsted County