It was in 1891 that the first Christian Science Sunday School met in Marblehead. The four pupils were the grandchildren of Mrs. John Sumner and Mrs. Abby Conners, who had known Mary Baker Eddy. As interest in Christian Science increased, townspeople attended branch churches in either Salem or Lynn and gathered in private homes in Marblehead to hold informal services.

On January 16, 1925, twenty-two people interested in forming a new Christian Science Society in Marblehead met at the home of Mrs. Alice Martin on Pond Street. The first formal service was held on Sunday morning, February 8, 1925 at the Odd Fellows Hall on Pleasant Street. Shortly thereafter weekly Sunday services and midweek meetings the second Wednesday each month were switched to the YMCA. Sunday School pupils, at this time, met with the congregation for the first part of the morning service and then adjourned to another room for their lessons just before the reading of the Lesson Sermon.

One month later, The Mother Church approved the bylaws written and submitted by the group, and on March 9, 1925 it was officially recognized as the Christian Science Society of Marblehead. Quickly the new Society expanded its Wednesday evening testimony meetings to two each month, and by June it was holding weekly testimony meetings, had established a small Reading Room in the "Y", and held its first Christian Science lecture.

Early in 1926, the Society formed a Building Committee, opened a Building Fund, and began looking for suitable property. Heating problems at the YMCA led the Society to move to the Universalist Church, at the corner of Pleasant and Watson streets, early in 1927; and they continued to hold services in the vestry in winter and in the church sanctuary in summer until 1933.

In the spring of 1929, the Society began a practice of operating two Reading Rooms, one year-round and a second with street-level display windows during summer months.

By 1932, the Marblehead Society had grown in number, in activity, and in outreach. That same year an application to change the Society into a branch church was approved and in June it became First Church of Christ, Scientist, Marblehead. Simultaneously, the growth of the Building Fund, combined with the desire of the growing membership for a church home of its own, led to the careful consideration of several properties in town.

Ground breaking began at the former Keon lot on Elm Street, adjacent to the Story Grammar School, on February 22, 1933. The cornerstone was laid May 11, and the church was ready for its first services, a Wednesday evening meeting, August 2, and the following Sunday, August 6. A formal dedication of the fully-paid-for church building was held Sunday, March 25, 1934, with both a morning and evening service.

In early 1967 an extensive addition was completed, enlarging the Sunday School, extending the church auditorium, and providing more suitable preparation rooms for the readers and musicians.

At the dedication service in 1934, the First Reader observed, "It is with deep gratitude for God’s goodness and wisdom that we review the many steps taken toward the completion of our church, and we pray that it will indeed prove to be" -- as Mrs Eddy writes in her definition of "Church," in "Science and Health," -- "an institution, which affords proof of its utility and is found elevating the race, rousing the dormant understanding from material beliefs to the apprehension of spiritual ideas and the demonstration of divine Science, thereby casting out devils, or error, and healing the sick."