By Owen Sexton / [email protected]
The 124-year-old building on Jackson Highway in South Chehalis that once housed Mary McCrank’s is now home to two new businesses: Medical Massage & Acupuncture and Summit Chiropractic Center.
Medical Massage & Acupuncture is owned by acupuncturist Kim Wilson. Her husband, chiropractor Aaron Wilson, runs the Summit Chiropractic Center in addition to Kim’s clinic.
In 2019, the couple began planning an addition on a piece of land they purchased next to their old location, but with inflation driving up construction costs, they decided to find a piece of land they could easily remodel to their liking.
In July, the couple officially opened their business at the old location of Mary McCrank’s restaurant at 2923 Jackson Highway at the intersection with Logan Hill Road in Chehalis.
Kim said the building was originally built in 1900 and was initially a restaurant called the Dutch Mill Tavern.
“It’s really fun to practice in such an old building,” Kim said. “The building just has a very special atmosphere. So it’s a good fit for the kind of work we do. It’s a noticeable difference from our old facility.”
Before moving into the Mary McCrank building, Kim and Aaron ran their practices on Kresky Avenue. Although they spent a good decade there, the building had more of a doctor’s office feel than a homey atmosphere, they said.
“It was the drop ceilings in the medical area, the carpeting and the fluorescent lights. But here, when you look at the ceiling, you see these beautiful fan-shaped drywalls that only two drywallers in the state can build,” Kim added.
The massage therapy, acupuncture and chiropractic that are practiced there today have nothing to do with the time when the building first began operations.
Mary McCrank was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1900. As a teenager, she moved to Lewis County and worked for the Automobile Club of Washington.
When the club closed in 1935 due to the Great Depression, McCrank lost her job. The Depression had also hit the Dutch Mill Tavern hard, and McCrank bought it after the owner offered her a price she couldn’t refuse.
She changed the name to the Shamrock Inn to honor her Irish roots, but the good, home-cooked meals McCrank served eventually led everyone to simply call the restaurant by her own name—an irony considering she couldn’t cook when she bought the restaurant.
Eventually she officially changed the name to Mary McCrank’s. McCrank died in 1984. Her ashes were scattered under the estate’s magnolia tree.
“One of my regular customers, an 86-year-old, said, ‘Oh Kim, I had my graduation at Mary McCrank,'” Kim said. “We get all kinds of stories about the food and the different dishes that people enjoyed.”
After her death, the restaurant was closed until Gerhad and Jeri Schopp bought and reopened it in 1998. In 2012, they changed the name to Schopp’s Steakhouse, but it closed again a year later.
The building was then purchased by John and Shelly McKerricher in 2015. They transformed the property into a wedding and event venue. Now the property is owned by the Wilsons and the history of the building itself inspires Kim.
“Mary McCrank was so successful as an entrepreneur here, and she was doing so at a time when not many women even owned businesses. This legacy of economic success for women inspires me,” she added.
Kim and Aaron originally purchased the property next to their old location on Kresky Avenue with plans to expand. However, after the pandemic, construction costs continued to rise.
“What we thought was going to be a $1 million project was now a $2.5 million project, so we decided to buy the existing building and remodel it instead,” Kim said. “It was such a nice change of pace with the creek and the gazebo out there. It kind of has the more rural elements when you drive out here and the super grounded qi of this building.”
Kim is one of five acupuncturists on the team, the oldest of whom is Dr. Hui Chong Chang, a former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who served as an anesthesiologist before leaving the Army and becoming an acupuncturist.
“He has been practicing acupuncture for decades since he retired from the military. He is 78 years old, speaks Chinese and English, and often meets with his fellow veterans,” Kim said. “He calls himself Jonathan.”
Another colleague, Morgan Tougas, specializes in electroacupuncture for nerve pain.
In addition, the team employs 12 state-certified massage therapists, including one of the newest employees, Linda VanPuymbrouck, who specializes in therapeutic massage for athletes or people with sports injuries.
“She has been on the sports massage team for many years, so she really brings her skills to the practice,” Kim said.
For anyone interested in chiropractic treatments, Aaron is assisted by another licensed chiropractor: Shawn Brown.
Medical Massage & Acupuncture is open Monday through Friday from 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., while Summit Chiropractic Center is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m.
For more information, including other services offered and how to make an appointment at each company, please visit https://medicalmassageinc.net/ And https://www.summitchirocenter.com/ or follow the companies on Facebook.
