By Dr. Walter R. Rhodes
Published by Texas Chiropractic Association, 303 International Life Building, Austin, TX 78701.As authorized by the various Boards of Directors of the Texas Chiropractic Association from 1958 to 1977, the idea first being presented to the board by E. L. Bauknight in 1958.
These excerpts are presented for educational purposes.
Things were not the same then as now. It seems redundant to mention that we now live in the midst of communication, ease of travel, fast mail, annual conventions and, if we need to know anything quickly, long distance telephone.
In 1895 Texas was but a frontier – not almost a frontier nor barely past a frontier – but a genuine frontier. The scars of the Civil War were only a few years past. The state government was still trying to shake off the carpetbaggers’ influence and replace their inefficient ways.
Texas had many gaps in its legal machinery – a 26 year period, for examples, with no laws whatsoever regulating medical practices – was just barely behind. The railroads and telegraph lines were the steel and wire wrappings that held the whole state together. People were mostly concentrated in the locations the cattle and railroad interests used as centers with Ft. Worth, Dallas, Sherman, San Antonio, Texarkana, El Paso, and Abilene serving as good examples.
Educational facilities throughout the state operated largely in the same frontier-like atmosphere. Theories of health and disease were rife and laughable according to the standards of today – or frightening if those were the best one had to live or die by.
Then in September, 1895, D. D. Palmer gave the first adjustment. Things happened rapidly after that and by 1904 chiropractic school graduates began spreading out from the originating central location in Iowa.
It seems that a rather large number of these early graduates not only went into active practice but they also established colleges wherever they went. By 1906, and soon thereafter, several colleges of chiropractic were established in varying locations in Oregon, California, Iowa, Kansas, Colorado, Oklahoma, New York, and the Dakotas. Most were short lived, small and destined to never be heard of again. A Dr. Guy, perhaps … Dr. Ralph I. Guy, or a relative, established a college in Dallas which operated for a short time but it joined the parade of schools which disappeared, leaving almost no trace.
But two of the early colleges became permanent institutions with great influence. First was the Carver Chiropractic College in Oklahoma City which was established as the Carver-Denny Kiropractic college in September, 1906. Of the two founders, Dr. L. L. Denny and Dr. Willard Carver, only Carver made a lasting contribution in the scientific field.
Then the Texas Chiropractic College was established in September, 1908, by Dr. J. N. Stone, M.D.*, D.C., who is thought to have been a Carver College graduate.**
For proper evaluation we must also go back to the beginning years of the Palmer Chiropractic College. The first official paying student enrolled January 15, 1898.
In 1899, there were 3 students; in 1900, 2; in 1901 there were 5 students and in 1902, 4, including B. J. Palmer. By 1906 there were 21 students in the Palmer Chiropractic College. These figures are from the History of Chiropractic written by Dr. Willard Carver. The Palmer Chiropractic College itself has no records covering these early years.
Thus when we attempt to determine the first chiropractors in Texas we can immediately set the basic limits on the earliest possible year but it becomes hazardous to try to definitely determine much more.
Since Dr. Stone established the Texas Chiropractic College in September, 1908, we must go further back than that to find the first chiropractor in Texas, but we cannot go further back than 1899, and, frankly, 1903-1905 seem much more reasonable dates to expect the first one to arrive in Texas.
There were two doctors in San Antonio, Dr. Lon H. Herrington and Dr. B. F. Gurden, who each claimed to be first in Texas; and their arguments with each other, though friendly enough, were rather well publicized. No evidence has been uncovered that suggests that any of the other chiropractors in Texas disputed the point with them, which they almost assuredly would have had there been any reason to contest their claims. Dr. John Lege and Dr. Hughey Brassfield were also present early, each of them testifying about things concerning Texas Chiropractic College in the years before 1918. Surely they would have known about men earlier than Herrington and Gurden and would have disputed with them if it was not true.
But such reasoning must be done with the full knowledge of the risks of communications. Some of the doctors in Texarkana, El Paso, and Sherman may not even have known of the claims of Herrington and Gurden so discretion is still in order.
The first chiropractor in Texas is though to have been Dr. Lon H. Herrington of San Antonio. This is according to Dr. Tom Cleveland of Clarksdale, the step-son of Dr. Herrington, in conversation with Dr. D. G. McDonald as they plied their memories. Herrington and Gurden often argued about which of them was the first chiropractor in Texas. Herrington had been enrolled at the Palmer Chiropractic College but ran out of money so he came to San Antonio to practice for a while, and later returned to school with enough money to graduate. Gurden, in the meantime, was in school, graduated and came to San Antonio and practiced.
It was not an uncommon event for a doctor to enter school, run out of money before graduation, and set up practice somewhere to earn enough money to graduate. He usually returned to school, graduated, and then returned to practice which, as often as not, was in a different location.
For this reason it is very difficult to determine when many of the early doctors, those in the 1910s to the 1930s, actually went into practice or where. Certainly the date of their graduation from school was no proof. Their entry into school – the original enrollment – is probably a much better guide.
It is true that Gurden was probably the first graduate chiropractor in that area but it is also known to be true that Herrington had preceded him in practice but was temporarily away at the time, having gone back to Iowa to finish his schooling. He soon returned permanently. The Palmer School of Chiropractic lists Lon H. Herrington in 1912, but doesn’t have any record of his graduation and they have no records existing before 1912.
The friendly argument raged on for many years. Dr. Herrington claimed to be the first chiropractor in Texas and Dr. Gurden, smiling, then claimed to be the first graduate chiropractor in Texas.
In the eastern part of the state Dr. J. B. Chessher was caught up in somewhat the same set of circumstances. He had graduated in 1917 from the Palmer Chiropractic College as a classmate of Dr. Russell P. Harris of Dallas. But he had practiced in Jacksonville many years before he left to get that diploma and return. He openly claimed to be the first in east Texas and no one is known to have disputed the point with him. He also claimed to have been the 43rd chiropractor in the state. The exact date of his first coming is not presently known.
Dr. C. W. Billings of Dallas claimed to be the 3rd graduate chiropractor in the state but his own figures won’t support that contention. In a letter dated February 6, 1958, he states that he was in his 45th year of practice. That would put him beginning in 1913 – and there were many chiropractors in Texas then; the Texas Chiropractic College had even been in full operation since September 1908. Billings, however, was extremely close to Dr. C. C. Lemly, Dr. F. L. Charlton, and Dr. Joe E. Busby and the four of them fought may political battles – fought the first ones in the legislature as a matter of fact.
*Stone was not a MD. The Texas Texas State Journal of Medicine, Volume 12 describe his credentials as D.C., M.T., D.O., Ps. C., M.S. Stone’s advertisements of 1908 list him as Dr. of “Kiro-practic, masseur, and nerve specialist,” using “NO MEDICINE”.
** As he probably was, since Carver-Denny named their school the Carver-Denny Kiropractic college in September, 1906 and Stone was advertising as a Dr. of Kiro-practic in 1908.
