The Battle Creek Sanitarium saw many famous people through its doors in its 76 years of operation and was ahead of its time in promoting a healthy lifestyle. It also had a few strange ideas as well.

After I did my story about an unusual planting method developed in Battle Creek, I looked more into the creator and discovered these interesting facts.

The 1994 movie 'The Road To Wellville' depicts a rather quirky and bizarre side to the cork flakes inventor:

Dr. John Harvey Kellogg opened a sanitarium in Battle Creek, Michigan, where he practiced his unusual methods for maintaining health, including colonic irrigation, electrical stimulus and sexual abstinence, vegetarianism and physical exercise. The sanitarium attracts well-to-do patients including William and Eleanor Lightbody, who are suffering from poor health following the death of their child. On their way to Battle Creek they meet Charles Ossining, hoping to make a fortune by exploiting the fad for health food cereals.

There were, however, some real truths to the sanitarium and the ideas of leading a healthy and active lifestyle. According to Wikipedia, in 1875, Kellogg, The Corn Flake guy, took over as the head of the Sanitarium, there were even some famous people who visited the Sanitarium, like:

The Battle Creek Sanitarium suffered a fire in 1902 but rebuilt and operated until the federal government bought the facility in 1942, turning it into the Percy Jones Army Hospital and later the Hart-Dole-Inouye Federal Center

Here is more information from Heritage Battle Creek and also a Youtube video below.

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