Sidney Abram Weltmer had begun his mind cure career by taking an associate on the lecture circuit and demonstrating the power of
mesmerism, which he had taught himself to practice. Weltmer believed this practice could be the basis of a business and founded the Weltmer Institute in
Nevada, Missouri in 1897. By 1898 Weltmer bought a 17-room mansion to use for the Institute. It functioned as a boarding house for those patients who had 10-day stays for a course of treatment, charging $100 for this. Weltmer continued to expand his practice and develop his business, lecturing to several hundred people in the Weltmer Auditorium, and sponsoring the Weltmer Quartette to entertain at both local events and a 1905 convention of the
New Thought Federation. He developed a mail order business of classes and treatment by mail. In his book
How to Make Magnetic Healing Pay (1901), Weltmer wrote that "a thorough knowledge of Magnetic Healing alone will not bring success, financially—a knowledge of the business side of the science is necessary as well". At one time it employed 17 healers, several assistant healers, a physician, and more than 110 stenographers and typists, the latter to process mail and generate treatment letters. After the closure of the Institute in 1933, the mansion was sold to Milster Funeral Home and used for that purpose for decades.{{cite news == Activities ==