Chiropr Hist. 1998 Dec; 18(2): 81-92.

"The man who made Peekskill famous": Dr. C.R. Johnston--first blind chiropractor.

Rehm WS.

Can a blind person be taught the art and science of chiropractic? If so, can a blind chiropractor be successful in practice? In 1918, Charles Robinson "C.R." Johnston, at the age of thirty-nine, was graduated from the Palmer School of Chiropractic--becoming not only the first blind D.C., but also one of the best known and most successful of his era. He practiced for twenty-five years in the small Hudson Valley community of Peekskill, New York, where his reputation as a "miracle healer" attracted hundreds of patients each week. The local press dubbed him "The Man Who Made Peekskill Famous." C.R. Johnston had come a long way from the Nevada mining camp where he was born. Accidentally blinded at age twenty-seven, he achieved notable success as a merchant before seeming to defy logic in choosing to begin again in a controversial new profession. But his attainments in chiropractic became equally inspirational... and the stuff of legend.