Ephraim Stevens was born in the town of Knox, Maine, in January 1851. When he was an infant, he came with his parents and siblings to Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where he would live out the rest of his life. He was educated in the public schools and studied masonry. In 1868, he went to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he apprenticed in under architect D. M. Harteau, and later partnered with him in the firm Harteau & Stevens.
