This book, the first comprehensive study of Cass Gilbert's early career, has three interrelated goals. The first is to contribute to a deeper understanding of a prominent and prolific architect by considering the largely overlooked work produced through his St. Paul, Minnesota, office from the 1880s through the early 1900s. The second is to contribute to the history of the architectural profession at a critical phase in its formation by considering the ways Gilbert and a new cadre of academically trained architects disseminated professional values into the West through day-to-day, collaborative, and broadly networked processes and practices—incremental and often conflicted—that were instrumental in producing the modern profession. The third is to consider the ways these processes became intertwined with the shaping of new buildings and landscapes in a rapidly changing region.