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Charles Fillmore (August 22, 1854 - July 5, 1948), was born in St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Fillmore founded the Unity School of Christianity, with his wife, Myrtle Page, in 1889. He became known as an American mystic for his contributions to interpretation of Biblical scripture.

At the age of ten, an ice skating accident dislocated his hip and left him with a withered leg - this event had a profound effect on his later life. As a printer's apprentice, he studied Shakespeare, Tennyson, Emerson and Lowell. He later worked as a mule-team driver and assayer before going into real estate. After marrying Myrtle, followed by the births of their first two sons, Charles moved to Kansas City, Missouri.

In 1886, Charles and Myrtle attended New Thought classes held by Dr. E.B. Weeks. These classes were influential because they proved useful in helping Myrtle with her tuberculosis and with healing Charles' pain from his childhood accident. Charles studied philosophy and religion and soon had a vision of his work in Kansas City.

Soon Myrtle was healed of her tuberculosis - something that she attributed to prayer and her involvement in the New Thought movement.

In 1889, Charles left his business to focus entirely on a prayer group that would later be called 'Silent Unity'. It was named this because of a legal conflict with Mary Baker Eddy over the use of Christian Science. In 1891, 'Unity' magazine was first published. Dr. H. Emilie Cady published 'Lessons in Truth' in this wonderful new magazine.

Later Cady's lessons were compiled and published in a book by the same name which is now a seminal work of the Unity movement. Although Charles had no intention of making Unity into a church, his students wanted a more organized group.

Charles and Myrtle were soon ordained into Divine Science and thus became the first He and his wife were among the first ordained ministers in their fledgling Unity "movement" in 1906.

Charles and Myrtle Fillmore operated the Unity organization from a campus near downtown Kansas City. The Unity Inn (Opened in 1905) was a popular feature; it was a cafeteria that was open to the public. The Unity Inn was a vegetarian eatery in accordance with the dietary habits of the Fillmores themselves.