Mary Flinn Lawrence

Mary Flinn Lawrence (February 20, 1886 – October 29, 1974) was deeply involved in politics, activism and philanthropy her entire life. Daughter of Pennsylvania Senator William Flinn, and long-term supporter of the Republican Party, Lawrence was politically active throughout her life supporting women's suffrage and going on to make her own mark in politics, particularly in the area of electioneering and in appointed political positions. She was noted for her work on the Gifford Pinchot gubernatorial campaign in 1922. She was also a philanthropist, social reformer and a conservationist involved with more than 250 organizations. Her home, Hartwood, is now an Allegheny County Park.

Early life Mary Flinn Lawrence was born in 1877, the first of seven children by William Flinn and Nancy Galbraith Flinn of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. William co-owned a construction company Booth and Flinn that built many Pittsburgh landmarks including some well-known Pittsburgh tunnels such as the Mount Washington Transit Tunnel and the Liberty Tunnels. He rose through the ranks of the Republican Party serving as a ward boss, a member of the Pennsylvania state legislature, eventually becoming a state Senator. He was a personal friend of President Theodore Roosevelt and was the power behind the Flinn/Magee political machine that ran politics in Pittsburgh for two decades at the end of the 19th century.

Mary Flinn was raised at her family's estate on highland Avenue in Pittsburgh. Educated at the Thurston School in Pittsburgh and then at Briarcliff College, she started her benevolent work raising funds for the city's Industrial Home for Crippled Children. Influenced by her father's involvement in politics, in 1904, she helped found the Allegheny County Equal Franchise Federation.

Suffrage, activism and philanthropy She engaged in a wide variety of philanthropic activities throughout her lifetime supporting more than 250 organizations including the Red Cross, The Home for Convalescent Mothers and Babies, the Pittsburgh Symphony Society, the YWCA, the Twentieth Century Club and many others. One of Lawrence's major activities during the suffrage movement was lobbying politicians for the vote, specifically to support a constitutional suffrage amendment. With the passing of the 19th amendment, suffrage efforts transformed into voter support efforts with the founding of the Allegheny County League of Women Voters. It also led to her appointment as Secretary of the Commonwealth, as one of two women in Pinchot's cabinet. She later served as Chief State Forester under Governor William Sproul.

Mary Lawrence died October 29, 1974 and was buried in Homewood Cemetery. Her personal papers, including an extensive collection of letters chronicling both Pittsburgh life and World War I, are held at the Heinz History Center.