By Wendi Bevitt
At the turn of the 20th century, Quenemo was on the rise. The Missouri Pacific and Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe railroads were constructed through town not long before, and the population and businesses started growing. And then someone arrived in town that propelled this little town’s fame throughout the Midwest – Orrin Robertson.
Orrin Robertson, along with his twin sister, Ann, was born in Missouri in 1858 to parents Jefferson and Martha. The family moved to Texas where he became a local newspaper editor. His sister died in 1885 of tuberculosis and this no doubt influenced the turn that his life took shortly thereafter.
Orrin pursued healing through medicine, but not just mainstream medical practices. He supposedly collected more than 31 diplomas from institutions in America and Europe in subjects such as psychic therapeutics, personal magnetism, psychology, metaphysics, oriental mystics, spiritual science and philosophy. He became the self-proclaimed “old reliable specialist, discoverer, originator and founder of Anthropology, the Pneumo (respiration)-Psycho(spirit)-Manas (mind)-Soma (body) System”.
Using these credentials, Orrin began setting up health-oriented institutions known as “Anthropological Non-Surgical Sanitariums” in Missouri, Kansas and Arkansas. He established his sanitarium at Quenemo in 1901. This campus consisted of three main buildings, with the primary building being constructed for a cost of $10,000.
During the patient’s stay at the sanitarium, qualified staff would cater to their needs, free from worries of home. The patients would benefit from state of the art technology and techniques and healthy meals. The sanitarium’s buildings could provide services for up to 300 patients.