“What is Chiropractic Healing? It is a scientific method of treating disease. It is a new and radical departure from all other known methods. Chiropractic healing uses no drugs, surgical operations, nor hypnotism. It is a skillful manipulation of the body, adjusting any parts which may be out of place. The length of time taken to re-adjust those misplacements depends much upon how long and how much they have been misplaced, and how tenacious the adhesions.” — advertisement, Palmer Chiropractic School and Infirmary, 1902
Located on the shore of Lake Scugog in downtown Port Perry, Palmer Park offers plenty of space to relax, enjoy a picnic, or engage in recreational activities. Its namesake, Daniel David Palmer, is regarded as the father of chiropractic care for his work in Iowa as the 19th century gave way to the 20th. “Old Man Chiro” was a controversial figure for his beliefs, practices, and eccentricities but was revered enough that those who followed in his steps chose to honour him in his hometown with a park and memorial.
For many years, it was believed that Palmer was born in Port Perry in 1845 — in fact, his descendants bought a home on Old Simcoe Road in the early 1960s in the belief that it might have been his birthplace. Subsequent research determined, however, that Palmer was born in Brown’s Corners, later known as Audley, which was located in present-day Ajax. His father later moved the family to Port Perry, where he ran an unsuccessful grocery business. According to a presenter at a memorial banquet in Toronto in 1943, those who’d known young Palmer in Port Perry recalled him as a popular kid with a strong interest in anatomy and collecting animal bones (as an adult, Palmer amassed a large collection of bones for study).
In the mid-1850s, Palmer’s parents and his four youngest siblings moved to Iowa, while he and his younger brother, Thomas, remained in Port Perry to complete their education. Around 1865, the brothers headed south, and Palmer spent the next two decades in the central United States working in professions ranging from beekeeping to school teaching.
By the time he settled in Davenport, Iowa, in the mid-1880s, he was practising the pseudoscience of magnetic healing. Its practitioners believed that their personal magnetism was so strong that they could cure many ailments with the help of magnetic objects and the laying on of hands. It appealed to Palmer, who by this time had become drawn to spiritualism. His son, B.J., later claimed that whenever Palmer was near anyone suffering from pain, he could feel it.
From left to right: Portrait of Daniel David Palmer (Wikimedia); bust of Palmer in Port Perry. (Jamie Bradburn)
As the legend goes, on September 18, 1895, Palmer examined Harvey Lillard, the janitor of the building he worked in. On the man’s spine, near his neck, Palmer noticed a bump, which was attributed to a fall several years earlier. Palmer believed that the bump might have played a role in Lillard’s hearing problems. He began working on Lillard’s spine. Within three days, he’d put the vertebrae back in place — following that, the janitor’s hearing appeared to have been restored. Subsequent examinations of patients revealed similar bumps. He developed a theory that misaligned vertebrae impinged on the spinal nerves and that adjusting them could restore energy flow, allowing the body to heal itself.
He developed the name for his discovery with one of his patients, local minister Samuel H. Weed. Palmer wanted something that suggested that the new practice was performed by hand. After testing several Greek phrases, they came up with “chiropractic,” or “done by hand.”
For years, opponents of chiropractic care criticized its origin story, sometimes for reasons that were themselves problematic. In the October 1917 edition of the Canada Lancet, Toronto doctor John Ferguson repeatedly pointed out in racist terms that Lillard was African-American, insinuating that he wasn’t very intelligent and so had easily been taken in by Palmer’s quackery. As for Lillard, he recalled in a newsletter/ad flyer published by Palmer in 1897 that Palmer had already discussed his new treatment before fixing him. Whatever the truth of the story, Lillard is honoured for his alleged role as the first chiropractic patient with his own plaque in Palmer Park.
Portion of an ad from the May 31, 1902, edition of the Davenport Times.
In 1896, Palmer’s School of Magnetic Cure opened in downtown Davenport with the goal of teaching “the treatment of injuries and diseases by magnetic manipulations.” While many medical officials scoffed at chiropractic, a third of his first 15 graduates were accredited physicians. The school, which would evolve into today’s Palmer College of Chiropractic, grew rapidly, especially after B.J. joined the business in 1899. By 1905, it had outgrown its space and moved to the site of its current campus.
Palmer maintained an appearance unusual for the era, growing his hair long and wearing a sombrero. According to acquaintances, he could also be very annoying; one former business associate later stated that “those who know D.D. Palmer know that no man living could become his associate in business and remain with him for any considerable length of time.” He was married six times and alleged to have been a strict disciplinarian with his children.
In March 1906, Palmer was found guilty by a local court of practising medicine without a licence. Facing a $350 fine or 105 days in jail, he chose the latter, making himself a martyr for his cause. His sentencing drew a large crowd, and Palmer didn’t disappoint: he launched into a long speech on the discovery and benefits of chiropractic. The presiding judge, who believed the law was there to protect the public, was not amused and repeatedly asked Palmer to keep quiet. “Dr. Palmer,” the judge scolded, “this is not the place to advertise.”
Ad for a Berlin (now Kitchener) chiropractor who notes their training at Palmer College. (Berlin News Record, February 15, 1913)
In interviews conducted over the next week by the Davenport Democrat and Leader, Palmer indicated that imprisonment wasn’t so bad and that he intended to serve his full sentence. He continued to promote chiropractic care, which he believed his imprisonment would not prevent from catching on. Unlike other prisoners, he was allowed to have a typewriter in his cell. He passed the time reading, writing, and cleaning. As for prison food, it was “not bad,” he said, and he requested that friends and family not send him any “delicacies.” He also came up with a long list of ideas about “how to make a jail sentence easy.” His suggestions included: ensure you are in the right, keep clean and busy, carry no regrets, treat law enforcement officials with respect, and believe in the righteousness of your cause. “Radical changes cannot be made ‘on feathery beds of ease,’” he observed. “New thoughts of great importance cannot be born without labour. Truth crushed to Earth will rise again.”
Yet martyrdom had its limits. After 23 days, Palmer paid his fine, plus costs, and was released from prison. At least one source suggested he’d suffered a head injury while imprisoned that might have affected his later behaviour. Around this time, his personal and professional relationship with B.J., who had been expanding the school, suffered, and the latter purchased the business. Palmer soon left Davenport, unsuccessfully operating a new college in Portland, Oregon, before moving to California.
During his later years, his messianic delusions came to the fore. In his 1910 book The Chiropractor’sAdjuster, he referred to the practice as a religion based on “innate intelligence” related to various religious figures. In a letter written in 1911, he compared his role in the discovery of chiropractic with Mary Baker Eddy’s creation of Christian Science. “Mrs. Eddy claimed to receive her ideas from the other world and so do I. She founded therein a religion, so may I. I am THE ONLY ONE IN CHIROPRACTIC WHO CAN DO SO.”
“I am the fountain head,” he declared. “I am the founder of chiropractic in its science, in its art, in its philosophy and in its religious phase. Now, if chiropractors desire to claim me as their head, their leader, the way is clear. My writings have been gradually steering in that direction until now it is time to assume that we have the same right to as has Christian Scientists.”
By 1913, Palmer wanted back into the leadership of his original school, but B.J. blocked him. He allied with a rival institution, the Universal Chiropractic College, which was run by Joy Loban and had formed after students had walked out of a lecture given by B.J. in which he introduced X-rays as a treatment tool.
Ad spotlighting B.J. Palmer. (Broadcasting, March 9, 1942)
Tensions came to a head in late August 1913, when Palmer demanded to lead a parade of chiropractors through Davenport. The day of, he refused to sit in the automobile that followed his son’s and attempted to lead the procession — but was removed. Police pulled him aside on his subsequent attempts to rejoin the march. Sources differ as to what happened next: Palmer either stumbled during the parade, was accidentally hit from behind by B.J.’s car when he attempted to rejoin the parade, or was purposely hit by his son. Palmer returned to California, fell ill, and died in Los Angeles in late October. Though Palmer’s death was due to typhoid fever, his estate, advised by Loban, sued B.J. for $50,000 in damages for allegedly hitting him with the car. A grand jury sided with B.J., believing Palmer’s estate had brought the case only to continue the antagonism between father and son. Besides, as some historians later mused, why would B.J. kill his father in front of a large crowd?
B.J. Palmer ran the school until his death in 1961. An eccentric who owned two major Iowa radio stations (WHO in Des Moines and WOC in Davenport) and a Florida mansion filled with $2 million worth of Asian art, he was described upon his death by the Davenport Times-Democrat as “a strange, unpredictable genius with the air of both carnival pitchman and college professor.” His son, David, assumed presidency of the school, running it until his death in 1978.
In conjunction with the 1938 National Chiropractic Convention held at Toronto’s Royal York Hotel, chiropractors from across North America supported the creation of a park in Palmer’s honour on Port Perry’s waterfront. Plans for the site, previously home to a Canadian National Railway station, called for a memorial monument, a building, and a swimming pool. Townspeople were encouraged to decorate their homes, save parking space for the chiropractors, and be friendly, smiling hosts. Unfortunately, the park’s dedication ceremony on August 28, 1938, was marred by heavy rain.
Eight years later, in August 1946, a bust of Palmer was officially unveiled under sunny skies in a ceremony presided over by future governor general Roland Michener. (The sculptor was Emmanuel Hahn, who also created the Ned Hanlon monument on the Toronto Islands, the Adam Beck statue along University Avenue in downtown Toronto, and the designs introduced in the late 1930s for the Canadian dime, quarter, and silver dollar.)
From left to right: B. J. Palmer in The Philosophy of Chiropractic (Its Occult Significance), an issue of the Occult Digest published in October 1925 (Wikimedia); 1925 advertisement for the Neurocalometer from Palmer School of Chiropractic. (Wikimedia)
To mark the 100th anniversary of the birth of chiropractic, Canada Post in 1995 issued a stamp honouring Palmer. It had initially rejected the idea on the grounds that Palmer had spent little time in Canada, but reconsidered after facing criticism.
If you visit Palmer Park today, you will find the statue, a memorial to chiropractors, and a plaque with the following summary of Palmer’s life: “Raised in Port Perry, D. D. Palmer was self-educated, well read, and keenly interested in spiritualism and alternative medicine. While working as a magnetic healer in the United States, his clinical observations and analyses led him to conclude that proper spinal alignment could restore ` nerve flow' and ensure good general health. Despite legal and financial setbacks, he published books on chiropractic treatment and founded and taught at several chiropractic schools. Palmer is recognized as the founder of chiropractic for his crucial role in creating and popularizing this alternative medical care in North America.”
Sources: the September-October 1973 edition of American Scientist; the October 1917 edition of the Canada Lancet; the November 16, 2004, edition of Clarington This Week; the March 28, 1906, April 2, 1906, April 6, 1906, April 23, 1906, August 28, 1913, July 2, 1914, and November 18, 1914, editions of the Davenport Democrat and Leader; the July 30, 1896, edition of the Davenport WeeklyDemocrat; the May 31, 1902, and March 28, 1906, editions of the Davenport Times; the May 28, 1961, edition of the Davenport Times-Democrat; the July 27, 1938, and August 14, 1946, editions of the Globe and Mail; the December 2009 edition of the Journal of Chiropractic Humanities; the October 21, 1913, edition of the Los Angeles Times; the July 21, 1938, and August 15, 1946, editions of the PortPerry Star; and the April 22, 2005 ,edition of the Toronto Star.