Stanwood Cobb was born in Newton, Mass. in 1881. He attended Newton High School and Dartmouth College. In graduate work at Harvard he specialized in the history and philosophy of religion. He then taught for three years at Robert College, Istanbul, and in 1914 published a book, based on his experiences in the Orient-one of the first books in America to give sympathetic treatment to the Turk and to Islam.

In 1919 Stanwood Cobb founded the Progressive Education Association of which he was later president. That same year he also founded the Chevy Chase Country Day School in Washington. He is a member of the Cosmos Club and is founder and president of the Washington Authors Club.