[2] She taught for four years in public schools in Bloomington, Mount Morris and Sterling, Illinois where she also served as principal.

[2] She later moved to Chicago to study anatomy and physiology at Woman's Hospital Medical College, in Chicago, where she graduated with highest honors in 1874, having in the meantime also spent a year in England studying at South Kensington Science School in London under Thomas Huxley.

[2] While in Europe, she was appointed a delegate to the Sanitary Conference in Vienna in 1874 by Illinois Governor John Beveridge.

Dr. Stevenson was listed as a consulting physician at Bellevue Place, sanitarium and rest home in Batavia, Illinois.

[4] In 1893, Stevenson proposed to the Chicago Woman's Club to create a safe home for women and children without funds and in of shelter.

Her proposal was accepted by many and followed by donations from various individuals and other clubs; the Woman's Model Lodging House was then opened to the public as a result of Stevenson's plea to help those in need.