On Monday, September 18, Cleveland University-Kansas City (CUKC) is celebrating the 122nd anniversary of the first chiropractic adjustment along with its largest incoming class of chiropractic students in twenty years. The celebration includes an official cake ceremony with CUKC president Dr. Carl S. Cleveland III, fourth-generation chiropractor, and the grandson of the University’s founders. The celebration also leads into the beginning of National Chiropractic Month in October.
September 18 is nationally celebrated in recognition of the anniversary of the first recorded chiropractic adjustment by Daniel David Palmer in 1895. Palmer’s patient, Harvey Lillard, had a hearing condition that was reported to improve after chiropractic adjustments. Following the first chiropractic adjustment, Palmer continued to develop the chiropractic technique and in 1897 established the Palmer School of Cure, which is now known as Palmer College of Chiropractic.
Cleveland University-Kansas City was founded in Missouri in 1922 as Central College of Chiropractic by Palmer graduates Dr. C.S. Cleveland Sr. and Dr. Ruth R. Cleveland and Dr. Perl B. Griffin. Two years later, the first class of doctors graduated from the college.
Doctors of Chiropractic now comprise the third largest doctorate-level health providers in the U.S. and help more than 35 million Americans get healthier every year. Today there are more than 70,000 active doctor of chiropractic licenses in the United States. Of those licensed chiropractors, more than 1 in 10 is a graduate of Cleveland University-Kansas City, which was known as Cleveland Chiropractic College from 1924 until 2015 when it earned University status.