Jay C. Bixby apparently began his career in Iowa, possibly apprenticed to J. B. MacKay, architect, in Waterloo.  He then practiced on his own, briefly, in Nevada, Iowa, in the 1910s.

By 1923, Bixby had moved to Vincennes, Indiana.  By 1926 or 1927, he was employed in the office that John B. Bayard had begun in Vincennes at least a decade earlier.  Rudolph W. Schucker joined Bayard's office about the same time.  For a short period, ca. 1931-1933, the firm was known as Bayard, Schucker & Bixby.

Shucker & Bixby continued the practice after Bayard's death (on April 26, 1933) until about 1952.  Bixby then practiced independently, still in Vincennes, to 1965 at least.