A trip down memory lane written by Dr. Karen Achtermann (formerly McConnell)
I graduated from Logan College of Chiropractic near St. Louis, Missouri in December of 1994. I originally started working at Dr. Bammer’s office near Memory Square Park in Louisville, but shortly after opened my own office at 915 Walnut Street, off Main Street in downtown Louisville (where Acme Fine Goods is now). Back then, many businesses were closed on Monday, but not McConnell Chiropractic! Main Street was much more of a sleepy town back then. I started my practice without staff or a computer (olden days, right?), had 3 flat non-electric adjusting tables and some other minimal equipment. My Dad was my first patient and I used patient ledger cards to record visits and payments and used a calendar scheduling book, which worked just fine for me when I first started out. Some of my favorite business neighbors back then were Bob the Barber from Thunderbird Barbers, the Louisville Florist, Hank at the Train Store, and Kevin from the Bakery. As the business got busier, I hired my first Chiropractic Assistant, Carter, to help out at the front desk. Things were so simple back then and since then we’ve gone from adding many computers including a Body Scan Computer and going from having only paper files to electronic records.
As I got busier Tina worked for me for many years. Dr. Marty and I got married in 1997 and we changed our business name to Achtermann Chiropractic (because saying McConnell-Achtermann Chiropractic was quite complicated!). Literally the first thing Dr. Marty added was a computer to the office to make things run more efficiently and smoothly. We moved the office to a bigger space right around the corner at 908 Main Street (upstairs). This is where Drew, our first son, spent his first 2 years of his life. He enjoyed pushing his plastic lawnmower and riding a red and blue train down the halls. Tina worked for us then and was an amazing multi-tasker running the front desk and taking care of Drew, who absolutely adored her. At this time, Massage Therapist, Kristi Robl-Endriss joined the practice and worked in our office doing massage therapy for 16 years!
We were at this location until we moved to our present location at 600 Main Street in 2003. The front part of the building was built in 1897 and the first occupant was Dr. Burns, a medical Doctor who lived there with his family. Later the building was bought by a family that owned it for about 100 years. We renovated the building, which was Mary’s Beauty Salon in the front and the family that owned it lived in the back. In 2017 we reconfigured our office and now rent the front part of the building to Crystal Springs and Achtermann Chiropractic is located in the back.