Countless celebrities and prominent figures have come to Rochester seeking treatment at Mayo Clinic — Muhammad Ali, Johnny Cash, and Ronald Reagan, among others — but the story surrounding Ernest Hemingway, who came here 60 years ago this month for the latter of two stays at Saint Marys Hospital, is among the most compelling.

Hemingway, one of the most famous writers of the 20th century, spent roughly four of the final eight months of his life in the Med City, receiving intense treatment for his mental and physical health. His doctors gave him extraordinary freedom for a patient undergoing therapy, and administered treatments that likely had adverse effects on his mental state. All the while, he was able to explore the ins and outs of the Rochester area.

With a Ken Burns documentary on Hemingway’s life recently debuting, we spent some time looking over recent accounts of his last days in Rochester, and went through the archives at the Olmsted County History Center to see how local journalists of the time covered his stay.

These are some of the most interesting stories we found while researching Hemingway’s time in Rochester.

News spreads: Hemingway is at Mayo

Hemingway’s first documented trip to Rochester came in November 1960, with his appointment listed under the name “George M. Savier” — referencing his doctor from Ketchum, Idaho. News of his arrival was kept under wraps until December 9, 1960, when the Post-Bulletin published a brief story saying Hemingway had been admitted to Saint Marys, on a floor with “rheumatism and arthritic cases.”

The article cited nothing more than “reliable sources,” but they turned out to be quite trustworthy: Ken McCracken, a fresh P-B reporter at the time, picked up on a rumor that the writer was in town and immediately rushed to the hospital, ignoring signs forbidding visitors in the wing to stand face-to-face with Hemingway.

Hemingway reportedly responded to the intrusion by swearing and throwing his metal dinner tray at McCracken.

McCracken, having confirmed the rumor, quickly fled the scene.

“His nurse, who knew me, said I should leave ‘right now,’" McCracken wrote in 2001. “She was on her way to summon security when I passed her walking briskly in the hall. I made a hasty retreat back to the newsroom.”

Hemingway sitting on a dock next to his boat, c. 1930s / courtesy the JFK Library’s Ernest Hemingway collection

National wire services did not pick up the story until January 10, 1961, which led the Clinic to release a statement the following day confirming his admission to St. Marys. The statement, however, said Hemingway was being treated for hypertension and high blood pressure — partially true, though he was also being treated primarily for depression, in addition to physical ailments caused by his drinking habit and a series of car and plane crashes.

With the blessing of attending physicians Drs. Hugh Butt and Harold Rome, Hemingway left Rochester on January 22, 1961, but returned on April 25 after a series of depressive and suicidal episodes at home in Idaho. His return stay was publicized by the P-B the following day, still under the guise of “hypertension,” and he remained in Rochester until June 26.

Less than a week later, on July 2, Hemingway died by suicide at his Idaho home. He was 61.

The Public Perception

As news broke nationally of Hemingway’s first stay in Rochester, Mayo Clinic listed his condition as “satisfactory” and said he would likely leave within “a week or ten days” — which ended up coming true, when he left for Idaho on January 22.

When Hemingway returned in April, Clinic spokespeople continued to list his condition as “satisfactory,” saying it on two separate occasions in statements published by the P-B. However, the 61-year-old was not his typical athletic self — he had lost a considerable amount of weight and appeared “thin and frail,” and someone inside the Clinic knew it.

“An unofficial spokesperson said that Hemingway ‘looks poor,’” reads a P-B article from April 26, 1961.

Strolls through the city

Even though Hemingway was undergoing psychiatric treatment, Drs. Rome and Butt allowed him near-free reign in between sessions during his first stay, according to an account from MPLS St. Paul Magazine writer John Rosengren. He used his time to go trap shooting near Mayowood, go on picnics along the Mississippi River, and walk around the city and its outskirts — and, of course, drink at the Kahler Hotel bar, which Rosengren says his doctors authorized.

Hemingway enjoyed hiking around what is now known as the Merrihills neighborhood, among various other locations in the woods surrounding downtown, occasionally striking conversation with people in their yards but predominantly keeping to himself.

“Many people reported seeing him on his strolls around Rochester and he answered their greetings with smiles and nods,” wrote McCracken.

Hemingway was often spotted in the Pill Hill area, visiting one of his doctors at his home. Rosengren writes that Hemingway became friends with Dr. Butt, and would commonly walk from St. Marys to his home on Seventh Street SW, even having Christmas dinner with the family in 1960.

Therapy proves counterproductive

Drs. Rome and Butt were two of the Clinic’s top physicians at the time, but it is likely their treatments only exacerbated the writer’s afflictions — and that the team overlooked a key driver of Hemingway’s deteriorating mental state.

Rosengren says Dr. Butt initially diagnosed Hemingway with a “mild case of diabetes and an enlarged liver.” Hemochromatosis was likely the cause of the latter, a genetic iron disorder that is (and was) easily treatable through drawing blood. Dr. Butt decided against confirming the cause through a liver biopsy, instead chalking it up to Hemingway’s alcohol use. The Villages News concludes that the resulting pain from untreated hemochromatosis likely contributed to the author’s increasing mental despair.

Aaerial view of St. Marys Hospital in the late 1950s / courtesy the History Center of Olmsted County

Hemingway was also subjected to electroshock therapy at least 15 times over his two stays in Rochester. While the practice is still used in some aspects to treat severe depression today, the delivery methods are much more controlled. The side effects from Hemingway’s treatment caused him to lose his once-photographic memory.

“Without his memory he could no longer write,” says the Hemingway Resource Center. “[He] could no longer recall the facts and images he required to create his art. Writing, which had already become difficult, was now nearly impossible.”

His Final Writings

Because of his illness and ongoing treatment, Hemingway had writer’s block in Rochester and did not contribute to any stories while he sought treatment here. However, his last letter, dated June 15, 1961, was written in Rochester, for the young son of one of Hemingway’s friends.

Quoted by the late P-B editor Greg Sellnow in 1999, a day before the 100th anniversary of Hemingway’s birth, the letter reads in part:

“It has been very hot and muggy here in Rochester but the last two days it has turned cool and lovely with the nights wonderful for sleeping. The country is beautiful around here…

“I never knew anything about the upper Mississippi before and it is really a beautiful country.”

Isaac Jahns is a Rochester native and a 2019 graduate of the Missouri School of Journalism. He reports on politics, business and music for Med City Beat.

Cover photo: Hemingway in 1959, a year before his first visit to Rochester / courtesy the JFK Library’s Ernest Hemingway Collection