Bacon studied briefly at the University of Illinois, Urbana (1884), but left to begin his architectural career as a draftsman, eventually serving in the office of McKim, Mead & White (New York City), probably the most widely known architectural firm of its time. Bacon's works of that period were in the late Greek Revival and Beaux-Arts modes associated with the firm's creations. His more important works include the Danforth Memorial Library, Paterson, N.J. (1908); the train station in Naugatuck, Conn., built as an Italian villa; the Observatory and other buildings at Wesleyan University; and the Union Square Savings Bank, New York City.

Bacon was very active as a designer of monuments and settings for public sculpture. He collaborated with the sculptors Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Daniel Chester French. It was the latter who carved the huge statue of Abraham Lincoln that sits within Bacon's last and most famous work, the Lincoln Memorial (dedicated May 30, 1922).