Introduction to the Historical Schools of Osteopathy

The first of the “daughter” schools was the National School of Osteopathy and Infirmary Association (NSO) founded in 1895 by Mr. and Mrs. Elmer Barber and Ellen Barber in Baxter Springs, Kansas. In the following years the school moved to Kansas City, Missouri. The institute was at the center of some controversy with the ASO; it was not admitted into the ACO (Associated Colleges of Osteopathy, the association of osteopathic schools), which rejected its application twice; first in 1899 and then again the following year. The school closed its doors in 1900.

On the other hand, some of the historical schools of osteopathy have survived to the present day, albeit sometimes under a different name. These include:

• the ASO, now called A.T. Still University (ATSU), founded by A.T. Still in 1892;
• the Pacific College of Osteopathy founded in 1896 in California. In 1914, the institute merged with the Los Angeles College of Osteopathy to form the College of Osteopathic Physicians and Surgeons, which, starting from 1962, stopped awarding the title of DO to its graduates as a result of the so-called “California merger”, and began to award the title of Doctor of Medicine (MD) instead. It is in this institution that the current University of California School of Medicine has its origine.
• the S.S. Still College founded in 1898 in Des Moines, Iowa, by several people close to the ASO: Summerfield Saunders Still (A.T. Still‘s nephew), his wife Ella D. Still, Colonel Conger and Mrs., W.L. Riggs and W.W.G. Helm. In September, when its first courses started, it counted more than forty enrollments. Currently the S.S Still College has taken the name of Des Moines University;
• the Philadelphia College and Infirmary of Osteopathy, founded in 1899 and known today as the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine. The school was originally established by O.J. Snyder (who served as its President until 1903) and Mason Pressly;
• the American College of Osteopathic Medicine and Surgery, founded in May 1900 in Chicago by the Littlejohn brothers after they left Kirksville. Until 1904 it dispensed a two-year course, which later became a three-year course with an additional fourth year optional, completely dedicated to the specialization in surgery. Until 1905 it boasted 114 graduates.

Other schools also came out that continued their activity for shorter periods of time, such as the Boston Institute of Osteopathy: founded in 1897 by C.E. Achorn, it changed its name to the Massachusetts College of Osteopathy in 1903. It was one of the first colleges to want to increase the training course from twenty to twenty-four months, and later to twenty-seven. The college lost its ACO accreditation in the 1920s and closed permanently in 1944.

Several other training institutions were born and lived for a time, only to encounter difficulties that led to their merger or incorporation into other schools.

In the early years of the new century, for example, the following institutes merged into the ASO:

• the Milwaukee College of Osteopathy in 1901. The school had been founded in 1898 and had awarded 25 degrees during its years of activity. Unfortunately, it did not have the resources to survive the new law enacted in the state of Wisconsin that mandated a minimum four-year curriculum for medical colleges – at that time, in fact, most osteopathic schools offered shorter curricula;
• the Colorado College of Osteopathy in 1904. It was a small school conforming to rigorous training criteria, opened in Denver by Nettie Bolles and her husband N. A. Bolles. Nettie Bolles had been the first woman to graduate at the ASO besides being the Anatomy teacher of the ASO‘s second course;
• the Atlantic School of Osteopathy in 1905. Its courses had started in February 1899 in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania. In 1900, for a brief period of time, William Smith was president of the institution, which, in 1904, moved to Buffalo, New York, under the presidency of. C. W. Proctor. The school merged with the ASO after awarding 184 degrees;
• the California College of Osteopathy in 1912. A school founded in 1898 by Alden H. Potter and Joseph A. Parker.

Other colleges merged into the S.S. Still College in Des Moines, Iowa, such as the following:

• the Northern Institute of Osteopathy in Minneapolis in 1902. The school had been founded by E.C. Pickler, F.D. Parker and L.M. Rheem in 1896, the third-largest osteopathic school ever;
• in 1903 the Northwestern College of Osteopathy in Fargo, established in 1898 thanks to the interest of Mrs. DeLendrecie;
• the Southern School of Osteopathy in 1905 It was founded in March 1898 with the intention of serving the central and southern states of the USA.

…to be continued….