Sesquicentennial of a monumental event in Lynn, MA  

At the corner of Oxford and Market streets in Lynn, Massachusetts, a monument commemorates an event that happened at that very spot 150 years ago. On the evening of February 1, 1866, Mary Baker Eddy took such a bad fall on the ice that it knocked her unconscious from internal injuries. Two days later the Lynn newspaper reported her to be in “very critical condition.” But this fall ultimately led to the rise of the remarkable career of Mary Baker Eddy, a female pioneer in religion, business, and media. 

As the plaque at the location succinctly explains it, “Prayer and faith led to her healing, her writings, and the advent of Christian Science.” Instead of the accident causing a sudden end to her life, it spurred the start of her mission to “reestablish primitive Christianity with its lost art of healing.” Eddy went on to found the Christian Science church organization in Boston that eventually included her own publishing company, newspaper, and religious educational system.

Mary Baker Eddy led the way for other women

Not only did Eddy reach great heights in her own career as a Christian minister, she paved the way for other women to go and do likewise–within her own organization and beyond. At the end of Eddy’s career in 1910 in her organization, women held the most prominent ministry role at the church services in 60% of the 11,000 congregations in North and South America, Europe, Asia, Africa, and Australia. Nearly 90% of the 4,800 Christian Science Practitioners worldwide were women. Women also traveled the world as lecturers, representing her organization.

Although were already some women in the Christian ministry prior to Mary Baker Eddy, it was quite unusual throughout the nineteenth century. Today it is common for women to serve in all roles and levels of organization and ministry throughout Protestant Christianity–increasingly, throughout the world.

For all the contributions women have made to religion and spirituality in the past century and a half, honor is due to all the early pioneers. Yet, these trailblazing women have not always been recognized in the telling of our history. The plaque at Oxford and Market streets in Lynn, installed a few years ago, is a landmark commemoration of one such female trailblazer. That monumental day 150 years ago, when Mary Baker Eddy took the first step of her new career was a giant leap for womankind.

More on the place of Mary Baker Eddy in the history of women’s rights can be found in the award-winning book, Crossing Swords: Mary Baker Eddy vs. Victoria Claflin Woodhull and the Battle for the Soul of Marriage by Cindy Peyser Safronoff. Available on Amazon or by special order from your favorite local bookstore. 

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