Mary L. Page

Mary Louisa Page (1849–1921) was the first American woman to graduate with an accredited architecture degree in the United States. In 1878, she graduated from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in Architecture. She was one of 89 female students on campus at the time, out of an undergraduate student body of 369. Though Mary Louisa was one of several women on campus, she was the only woman in her architecture classes.

Early life and education Mary L. Page attended the University of Illinois from 1874 to 1878, graduating with a B.S. in architecture. Page then became a schoolteacher in Washington state and was active in the Woman's Christian Temperance Union. She died of heart failure on October 21, 1921, in Kansas City.