He worked for the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad and then obtained a scholarship to Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.
After two years he went to Europe to study at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris and at Heidelberg University, after which he took a job in Boston for the architectural firms of Van Brunt & Howe and E. M.
The firm gained many important commissions, including federal prisons in Atlanta, Georgia, and Leavenworth, Kansas.
[2] Young was opposed to some of the practices of Washington University architectural school, including the requirement for elaborate drawings and the habit of holding architectural competitions, which he described as "undignified ... What other class of men except architects could be induced to risk the money, time and nervous force involved in these expensive contests on so slim a chance of return?
"[2] Young was Mayor of Webster Groves, Missouri, from 1901 to 1903, and President of the St. Louis Chapter of the AIA from 1909 to 1910.