Clarence E. Shepard was born in Cortland, New York and grew up in Clay Center, Kansas. He began his study of architecture at the University of Berkeley in the 1890s and then moved to Chicago to work in the studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. After the birth of his daughter, Shepard moved his family to Kansas City where he practiced architecture. In his career as an architect, he designed over six hundred homes in Kansas City, Tulsa, Oklahoma City, and Minneapolis as well as churches.