Lake Forest-Lake Bluff History Museum

The Littlejohn family in front of their Lake Bluff residence on North Avenue.

John Martin Littlejohn is considered one of the fathers of osteopathic medicine.He was born in Glasgow, Scotland in 1867, where he studied theology, law, medicine and philosophy. A brilliant student, he advanced far in a career in academic at a young age, but never enjoyed robust health.In 1892, at only age 25, his doctor told him he did not have long to live and he should travel to the U.S. to a better climate which would extend his life. He earned a Ph.D. from Columbia and then served as a college president in Iowa.

In 1897, he sought treatment for a throat condition from Dr. Andrew Taylor Still. Still had developed osteopathy in the 1880s, hoping his new discipline emphasizing physical manipulation of bones, joints and muscles would replace many of the prevailing medical practices of the time, such as bloodletting or giving patients arsenic and mercury to “kill” the disease in their bodies.Much struck by Dr. Still’s work, Littlejohn quit his comfortable academic career and went on to study and teach at the American School of Osteopathy in Kirksville, Missouri.In 1900, with his two brothers, he founded Littlejohn Teaching Hospital in Chicago. In 1911, he bought a house on North Avenue in Lake Bluff. There he lived with his wife, six children and his mother. Littlejohn was also an ordained Protestant minister and lectured as part of the Chautauqua movement – no doubt that is part of what drew him to Lake Bluff, though the Camp Meetings had ceased by then.

In 1917 Littlejohn founded the British School for Osteopathy. The Littlejohn Center in Dublin is named for him. Midwestern University (now in Downers Grove) was also founded by Littlejohn. Littlejohn died in 1947 at the ripe old age of 80.

Dr. John Martin Littlejohn: A New Way in Medicine