Born near Rushville, Indiana, Steele attended the public schools and Axline Seminary in Fairfax, Iowa.

He may have influenced the decision of his architect nephew, William L. Steele (1875–1949), to relocate from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Sioux City in 1904.

This included the Sioux City Livestock Exchange Building (1914), which was among the first of the architect's designs in the Prairie School style of architecture for which he would become famous.

[1] In 1914, Steele upset incumbent Republican Congressman George Cromwell Scott in the race to represent Iowa's 11th congressional district in the Sixty-fourth Congress.

"[4] Steele's win was particularly surprising because it occurred in a year in which Iowa Republicans swept all statewide offices and recaptured all seats in Congress held by Democrats.