Louise Blanchard Bethune - Architect

Louise Blanchard Bethune (1856-1915) showed early promise in math. Lucky for her, her father was the principal and a mathematics teacher in a school in Waterloo, New York. Instead of going to school, Louise's father taught her at home until she was 11 years old. She also discovered a skill for planning houses. It developed into a lifelong interest in architecture and a place in history as the first professional female architect in the United States.

- Barbara Krasner

After graduating from high school in 1874, Louise traveled and studied.

She hoped to prepare herself to attend the new architecture school at Cornell University. But then Buffalo's leading architectural firm of Richard A. Waite and F.W. Caulkins offered her a position. She knew that architects gained their training from practical experience, not from school.

So, she took the job.

Louise worked at the firm as an apprentice and an assistant, 10 hours a day for five years. She learned and mastered-drafting and architectural design. She also met another student, Robert A. Bethune. When she was ready to open her own firm, she took him with her. Their new firm, R.A. and L. Bethune, opened in October 1881. They were married a couple of months later.